The Intrigue at Highbury (Mr & Mrs Darcy Mystery, #5)

by Carrie Bebris

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy are looking forward to a relaxing stay with dear friends when their carriage is hailed by a damsel in distress on a dark road outside of the village of Highbury. Little do the Darcys realize that gypsies roam these woods, or that both their possessions and the woman are about to vanish into the night. The Darcys seek out the parish magistrate, who is having a difficult evening of his own. Mr. Knightley and his new wife, the former Miss Emma Woodhouse (the heroine of Jane Austen's Emma) are hosting a party to celebrate the marriage of their friends, Mr. Frank Churchill and Miss Jane Fairfax. During dinner, Mr. Edgar Churchill, uncle and adoptive father of the groom, suddenly falls ill and dies. The cause of death: poison. When the Darcys and the Knightleys join forces to investigate the crimes, they discover that the robbery and Edgar Churchill's death may be connected. Together they must work to quickly locate the source of the poison and the murderer's motive - before the killer can strike again.

• ISBN10: 0765318482
• ISBN13: 9780765318480
• Publish Date: 2 March 2010
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 19 October 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I actually think of this as a 3.5 star read, but I'm giving it 4 stars here because I'm not sure it's the books, or the author's fault.

This book's plot centers around Highbury and the characters from Jane Austen's Emma, one of the few remaining Austen books I haven't yet read. I think this hindered me with this story, as I had a terrible time keeping the characters and which estates they belonged to, straight in my mind while reading. More than once I had to go back to previous chapters to remind myself "who was this person??". This was more pronounced due to the author's choice of opening the book from the perspective of Emma, before the Darcy's arrive on scene.

Once I finally got most of the characters straight in my mind, I really enjoyed the mystery - it was delightfully convoluted with more than a few likely suspects. Unfortunately the murderer stuck out a bit like a sore thumb for me, but it in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the unfolding mystery and clues. I really enjoyed the incorporation of word puzzles too, as I felt like I could "play along" more actively in solving the clues.

An enjoyable series and The Intrigue at Highbury isn't the worst or the best book of the bunch, but one I'd probably read again - after I read Emma.