Death of a Schoolgirl (Slan) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Fans of historical cozies will best appreciate Slan’s first in a new series featuring Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Soon after the birth of Jane and Edward Rochester’s first son, Jane receives a troubling plea for help from her former pupil, Adele Varens, now at London’s Alderton House School for Girls. Jane travels from Yorkshire to London, where she poses as a German teacher to gain entry to Alderton House, which she discovers is a hotbed of bullying, theft, laudanum drugging, and long-held grudges. The death of one of Adele’s schoolmates and a possible connection to George IV add to the intrigue. Slan (Ready, Scrap, Shoot and four other Kiki Lowenstein mysteries) captures neither the voice of Jane Eyre nor the timeless appeal of its heroine, but she credibly recreates Regency London and the era of the Bow Street Runners.
Publishers Weekly


In 1820, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre Rochester have settled into the Yorkshire countryside and welcomed a son. Their quiet retreat is shattered when Adele, Mr. Rochester's ward who is now enrolled in a London boarding school, sends a desperate plea for help.... Verdict: It's difficult to know why the author of the Kiki Lowenstein "Scrap-N-Craft" cozy series chose Jane Eyre as the basis for this amateur sleuth mystery.... Readers without strong feelings about Charlotte Bronte's classic may enjoy this spin-off but should be prepared for a slow-paced investigation and out-of-the-blue solution. —Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH
Library Journal


(15 to Adult.) This piece is a work of fiction, based upon the work of Charlotte Bronte. The novel begins when Jane and her husband, Rochester, both happily in love, take care of their infant son. Rochester has a daughter named Adele who is living in a girls’ boarding school. A strange letter arrives from Adele, containing cryptic messages of a foreboding nature.... Jane decides she must embark on an important quest to the boarding school.... Will she be able to save Adele from the strange circumstances at her school? This is a wonderful novel for young adults who are interested in the classics of Great Britain in the 1800s. For readers who love Jane Eyre, she lives on through Joanna Campbell Slan.
VOYA


A cry of distress from a schoolgirl takes Jane Eyre Rochester far from her sheltered life.... Although Jane may seem meek, the formidable intelligence behind her demure exterior stands her in good stead as she attempts to uncover a murderer. In a radical departure from her scrapbooking series (Ready, Scrap, Shoot, 2012, etc.), Slan refashions a beloved heroine as a surprisingly canny detective. Her stylistic imitation of Charlotte Bronte is seasoned with a dash of social commentary and plenty of suspects to mull over.
Kirkus Reviews