In the Chateau: A Frances Yates Mystery

By: Marjorie G. Jones

Quirky, erudite and witty, In the Chateau follows the dastardly - and sometimes sexy - doings of professional plagiarists in the shadow of a fascinating feminist conference examining women’s spirituality in centuries gone by. Marjorie Jones here offers a stimulating ode to Quebec City and French Canada and provides an atmospheric narrative as rich and delicious as a serving of Quebec’s famous poutine.

• Stephen O'Shea, author The Perfect Heresy

London, Mexico City, Philadelphia, and now in Quebec City - with In the Chateau we renew our acquaintance with the indomitable Dame Frances Yates and her cadre of fellow amateur detectives. And again we encounter a love of books, historical and feminist religious insights, architectural wonders, mouth-watering food, and last but not least: murder most foul.

This book, as are the others in the series, is a delight for armchair travelers with a penchant for the darker side of academia. PS: Graduate students beware of the perils of plagiarism.

• Maria Enrico, BMCC / City University of New York

When renowned British historian Dame Frances Yates is invited to deliver a talk regarding the Hermetic Tradition at a conference of women religious of the Americas at the historic Ursuline Convent in Quebec, she uncovers a ring of plagiarists thriving in the local institutions of higher learning.

Once again, during her visit, Dame Frances savors culinary delights and admires historic sites, illustrating the complex history of Canada.

About the Author

Creator of Frances Yates mysteries, Marjorie G. Jones is also her first biographer: Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition (Ibis Press, 2008). Her biography of Philadelphia Quaker Mary Vaux Walcott, known as the Audubon of Botany, The Life and Times of Mary Vaux Walcott, was published in 2015 (Schiffer Publishing).

Interested especially in women’s spiritual journeys, Jones is a graduate of Wheaton College (Norton, MA), the Rutgers School of Law, and the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in NYC, where she wrote her thesis on the unpublished papers of Frances Yates.

A member of the Women Writing Women’s Lives seminar of biographers in NYC, she has taught history and government at the New School, Mercy College NY, and for college degree programs at Sing Sing and SCI Graterford prisons.

With her husband, she resides in Center City, Philadelphia.