Death Comes to Pemberley

A very satisfying read. I almost had the mystery figured out.

I thought the writing style and the use of Austen's characters was fine, but it never really gripped me and the pace was patchy at times. Although Darcy looks into the crime, I'm not sure that he could really be called a detective as such, considering the way that the book turns out. There are great chunks of novel devoted to the legal system of the time, which although interesting did slow the plot down somewhat.

Disappointingly dull and not much of a mystery at all. Serves me right for trying to relive the magic that was P&P through any other author but Miss Austen.

“You are mounting quite an impressive expedition to satisfy one hysterical woman.”

Started out okay but slowed down too much for me.

I assume there’s some good research done and there’s plenty of facts on how the legal system is working at the time. Which isn’t great fun.

Also some repetition from the original book and the characters are not popping. Jane Austens characters are coming straight at you but not here, flat.

P.D.James writes well, but she describes people very differently than how I understood them from Pride and Prejudice. When I forgot whom she was writing about, the story was interesting, but every now and then I thought “For heaven's sake!”, “How could it be like that?” “but... she wouldn't have thought that!”
And then the romantic crap! Especially the last chapter and afterwords... could have let be unread. Syrup. I can't!
When one sees it as a Regency romance novel with some additional color from the murder, it's OK.
But I won't read this again.

So. . . Looking through the other reviews, I can see this has been a polarizing book! I wouldn't be as tough as some of the other critics out there, but I will say that I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped.

I'm not a serious Austen fan–I preferred the Brontes, haha–so I mostly picked up this book out of curiosity. It is, indeed, a little repetitive if you've seen the BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice . . . And I personally just couldn't get a feel for the narration. In a lot of classics like Austen's works, the narrator has a distinct flair, almost to the point of being another character. I think I was missing that. Of course, that narrative style isn't as common these days, so maybe that's just one area where a modern telling of an Austen ‘sequel' runs into trouble!

In any case, if you're very invested in P.D. James or in Austen, this is a cool crossover idea . . . Just make sure you're in the right mood first!

As a general rule, I am usually quite fond of any Jane Austen fan-fiction (especially Pride & Prejudice!). However, I found this book incredibly slow and caught up in characters us Janeites are unfamiliar with and trial details that no one wanted to read about in such detail. I was really hoping for more interaction amongst the characters, and on the whole I found this book rather dull. Carrie Bebris' “Pride & Prescience” is a much better alternative than than “Death Comes to Pemberley”!