Jane Vows Vengeance

Starred review from January 16, 2012
Ford has another winner with the third novel (after Jane Bites Back) featuring undead Jane Austen’s adventures in the modern world. While Jane’s fiancé, Walter, doesn’t know that she’s a vampire, his mother, Miriam, does know and does not approve one bit. Jane and Walter head to Europe for an architecture tour doubling as their honeymoon, but their wedding at the beginning of the tour gets derailed when Jane’s long-forgotten husband shows up, leaving Jane to figure out how to end a centuries-old marriage. She also hopes to find a stake that can turn vampires human again, since the alternative is turning Walter into a vampire. Sweet, loyal Walter is the perfect foil for appropriately witty Jane, who maintains her sense of humor thanks to her staunchly loyal best friend Lucy; hilarious one-line zingers from Lilith, Miriam’s amputee Chihuahua; and an entertaining cast of zombies, ghosts, and vampires. Agent: Mitchell Waters, Curtis Brown.

February 1, 2012
In the final installment of Ford's trilogy (Jane Goes Batty, 2011, etc.), Jane Austen, vampire, prepares to wed her swain, architectural restorer Walter Fletcher, but complications keep arising. And arising. For one thing, Walter doesn't even know that upstate New York bookseller Jane Fairfax is really an undead world-famous author. For another, his mother, Miriam Ellenberg, does know--and she's a vampire hunter. Jane, who hasn't even made it official with Walter, has only four more months to become pregnant before Miriam will go after her. And now Walter has decided it would be a nice idea to tie the knot during a European tour with members of the International Association of Historic Preservationists, along with Jane's best friend Lucy, her rabbinical beau Ben Cohen and of course Miriam. There follows a whirlwind tour of important buildings in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy and Switzerland, punctuated by a murder for which Jane is the most likely suspect, a wedding ceremony that's interrupted by Jane's 200-year-old first husband and a great deal of chatter more waspish than witty. Will Jane ever find Crispin's Needle, which allegedly has the power to turn vampires back into ordinary humans? If she does, will she give up her bloodsucking ways for Walter? Can she defeat her vampire nemesis Charlotte Bronte? And when will she vow vengeance? Fans will doubtless come running. But the dutiful cook's tour of stately buildings and the joyless whodunit conventions combine to make this the most earthbound installment of the trilogy, even though it keeps jumping the shark.

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February 15, 2012
The third in Ford's Jane Austen Vampire series (following Jane Goes Batty, 2011) finds Janea vampire more than 200 years old and living in the U.S.off to Europe for her long-anticipated wedding to Walter. Despite Walter's ignorance of her condition, Jane is still determined to marry and stay with her mortal lover, even if it means dealing with his vampire-hunter mother and her pesky little dog. When she hears rumors of Crispin's Needle, a relic able to return humanity to vampires, Jane is determined to hunt it down even if it means crisscrossing England and facing her past. This fun and frothy series will appeal to fans of Jasper Fforde's literary mashups (The Eyre Affair, 2002) as well as Austen fans who like a dose of vampires (Steven Hockensmith's Dawn of the Dreadfuls, 2010). Will Jane finally get to marry Walter? And how will he deal with the revelation of her condition?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)