Death Comes to Pemberley, by P.D. James
This book has been on my reading list for a while, even though I've mostly given up on Pride and Prejudice sequels. Either the characters and/or language are all slightly off, or it's full of hilariously over-the-top pr0n.
But I wanted to give this a try. P.D. James is a very well-known mystery writer and a Jane Austen fan herself. I was curious about what she'd do with the story. Death Comes to Pemberley begins six years after the events of Pride and Prejudice, with the Darcys and the Bingleys living their happily ever after. It's the eve of an annual ball held at Pemberley, but who should turn up unexpectedly but Lydia screaming that someone's murdered her precious Wickham.
I'm actually getting ahead of myself a bit here. The author kicks off the book with a lengthy prologue that's basically a recap of the whole damn Austen novel. Some of the language is remarkably spot-on, and there are a few funny moments where she manages to channel Austen fairly well, I thought. But unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to keep up that light tone when the bloody corpse turns up without the novel turning into more of a spoof. Quite early on, all the humor goes away and we get down to srs bsnss.
Personally, I don't think this is really a book for Austen fans, despite a few in-jokey allusions to other Austen characters/novels here and there. It's definitely not a romance, and if you're looking for P&P fluff, you'll be heartily disappointed. This Darcy and Elizabeth barely have any page-time, and not a whole lot of chemistry, either-- even though they're ostensibly happy in their marriage. This book is definitely a murder mystery, with a slow build of odd and inexplicable events that only appear unconnected on the surface. We get a bit of a romantic triangle involving Georgiana, but that's about it. Very minor, and very on the back burner compared to the murder investigation plot.
The lack of romance doesn't bother me, and I thought James' build-up was good, albeit slow. But overall, the mystery was a little on the dry side for me. I don't know how it compares to James' other mystery novels, because I've never read any of them. What I do know is that the Austen characters felt a bit stiff, especially without the witty dialogue or sly observations on human behavior to break up the tension. Some poetic license with the characters/story was also taken. Sometimes the end result was interesting-- for example, Elizabeth's speculation and conclusion about how Lady Catherine de Bourgh heard the rumor of Elizabeth's engagement to Darcy. I read it and thought ha, this must be how the twisty mind of a mystery writer works!
Other changes were a little more abrupt, like Colonel Fitzwilliam's transformation from an amiable gentleman to a pompous butthead. It wasn't pointlessly done, I suppose, but it still bugged me a bit. Lydia also gets a bit of a rewrite from being mostly just immature and immensely self-absorbed to being a tad spiteful. Both in the novel and the miniseries, she didn't really strike me as having the mental acuity to be truly malicious. James' version just gives her personality a nudge.
I like English murder mysteries, so I might try some of P.D. James' other work sometime. This one isn't a reread for me. There's just enough mystery to keep the pace from bogging down completely, but I'm not sure the solution of the mystery was quite worth the journey.
But I wanted to give this a try. P.D. James is a very well-known mystery writer and a Jane Austen fan herself. I was curious about what she'd do with the story. Death Comes to Pemberley begins six years after the events of Pride and Prejudice, with the Darcys and the Bingleys living their happily ever after. It's the eve of an annual ball held at Pemberley, but who should turn up unexpectedly but Lydia screaming that someone's murdered her precious Wickham.
I'm actually getting ahead of myself a bit here. The author kicks off the book with a lengthy prologue that's basically a recap of the whole damn Austen novel. Some of the language is remarkably spot-on, and there are a few funny moments where she manages to channel Austen fairly well, I thought. But unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to keep up that light tone when the bloody corpse turns up without the novel turning into more of a spoof. Quite early on, all the humor goes away and we get down to srs bsnss.
Personally, I don't think this is really a book for Austen fans, despite a few in-jokey allusions to other Austen characters/novels here and there. It's definitely not a romance, and if you're looking for P&P fluff, you'll be heartily disappointed. This Darcy and Elizabeth barely have any page-time, and not a whole lot of chemistry, either-- even though they're ostensibly happy in their marriage. This book is definitely a murder mystery, with a slow build of odd and inexplicable events that only appear unconnected on the surface. We get a bit of a romantic triangle involving Georgiana, but that's about it. Very minor, and very on the back burner compared to the murder investigation plot.
The lack of romance doesn't bother me, and I thought James' build-up was good, albeit slow. But overall, the mystery was a little on the dry side for me. I don't know how it compares to James' other mystery novels, because I've never read any of them. What I do know is that the Austen characters felt a bit stiff, especially without the witty dialogue or sly observations on human behavior to break up the tension. Some poetic license with the characters/story was also taken. Sometimes the end result was interesting-- for example, Elizabeth's speculation and conclusion about how Lady Catherine de Bourgh heard the rumor of Elizabeth's engagement to Darcy. I read it and thought ha, this must be how the twisty mind of a mystery writer works!
Other changes were a little more abrupt, like Colonel Fitzwilliam's transformation from an amiable gentleman to a pompous butthead. It wasn't pointlessly done, I suppose, but it still bugged me a bit. Lydia also gets a bit of a rewrite from being mostly just immature and immensely self-absorbed to being a tad spiteful. Both in the novel and the miniseries, she didn't really strike me as having the mental acuity to be truly malicious. James' version just gives her personality a nudge.
I like English murder mysteries, so I might try some of P.D. James' other work sometime. This one isn't a reread for me. There's just enough mystery to keep the pace from bogging down completely, but I'm not sure the solution of the mystery was quite worth the journey.