🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Francine Mathews
In 1981, she began attending Princeton, one of the most formative experiences of her entire life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned how to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian, which is a hobby that led to two part-time jobs working as a journalist for The San Jose Mercury News and The Miami Herald. She majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and during her senior year, she won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. However the course she remembers the most vividly from her time spent at Princeton is The Literature of Fact, which was taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and a staff writer for The New Yorker. He influenced Francine’s own writing more than even she knows and definitely more than she’s able to say.
All Book Series by Francine Mathews
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
Series opener · book 1 of 15 · published 1996
Jane and the Final Mystery
Latest in the series · book 15 of 15 · published 2023
That Churchill Woman
Latest in the series · book 8 of 8 · published 2019 Pen name · Stephanie Barron
On Hosting Your Regency-Era Christmas Party
Single-title series · published 2014
Lives of the Poets
Series opener · book 1 of 15 · published 1984 Anthology · E.L. Doctorow
Anthropology of an American Girl
Book 4 of 15 · published 2003 Anthology · Hilary Thayer Hamann
The Wives of Henry Oades
Book 7 of 15 · published 2010 Anthology · Johanna Moran
When We Were Friends
Book 11 of 15 · published 2011 Anthology · Elizabeth Joy Arnold
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
Book 13 of 15 · published 2011 Anthology · Jenny Wingfield
The Lullaby of Polish Girls
Latest in the series · book 15 of 15 · published 2013 Anthology · Dagmara Dominczyk
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Francine Mathews?
In 1981, she began attending Princeton, one of the most formative experiences of her entire life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned how to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian, which is a hobby that led to two part-time jobs working as a journalist for The San Jose Mercury News and The Miami Herald. She majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and during her senior year, she won an Arthur W.
Which Francine Mathews series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Random House Reader's Circle series, the earliest of Francine Mathews's multi-book series: it opens with Lives of the Poets (1984) and runs to 15 books across 1984–2013, ending with The Lullaby of Polish Girls (2013). Francine Mathews's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Francine Mathews written?
Francine Mathews has 52 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1984 and 2023. 40 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Jane Austen Mysteries series with 15 books — and 12 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Francine Mathews's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Francine Mathews's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Random House Reader's Circle (1984–2013, 15 books), A Merry Folger Nantucket Mystery (1994–2022, 7 books) and Jane Austen Mysteries (1996–2023, 15 books), plus 2 more.
How are Francine Mathews's books organised into series?
This guide splits Francine Mathews's 52 books into 5 named series and 12 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Jane Austen Mysteries (15 books, 1996–2023); Random House Reader's Circle (15 books, 1984–2013); A Merry Folger Nantucket Mystery (7 books, 1994–2022); Caroline Carmichael (2 books, 2001–2005); Jane Austen Companion (1 book, 2014).