Stella Gibbons detestation of pomposity and pretence. Truss has described Gibbons as "the Jane Austen of the 20th century", a parallel which the novelist Malcolm Bradbury thought apt; Flora Poste in "Cold Comfort Farm", with her "higher common sense", is "a Jane-ite heroine transformed into a clear-eyed modern woman". Bradbury also observed that many of Gibbons's novels end in Austen-like nuptials. Truss highlights the importance that Gibbons places on detachment as a necessary adjunct to effective writing: "Like many a good doctor, she seems to have considered sympathy a peculiar and redundant emotion, and a terrible waste of time." This matter-of-fact quality
Stella Bonasera murder suspect released because of an error by an ADA, and the fourth is filed in "Supply and Demand" (episode 120) by the father of a college student suspected of selling drugs that had already killed a fellow student. The insinuation is that Stella is willing to push a suspect's buttons in an effort to get a confession or information. Stella does not suffer fools gladly. During "Open and Shut" (episode 306), she initially expresses sympathy for a woman who appears to be the only survivor of a double homicide in her home. After further investigation reveals that the woman