Death Comes to Pemberley

by P. D. James

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A rare meeting of literary genius: P. D. James, long among the most admired mystery writers of our time, draws the characters of Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride and Prejudice into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem.

“A glorious plum pudding of a whodunit.” —NPR, Fresh Air
 
It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the chatelaine of the great house. They have two fine sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles. Elizabeth’s sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live nearby; her father visits often; there is optimistic talk about the prospects of marriage for Darcy’s sister Georgiana. And preparations are under way for their much-anticipated annual autumn ball.
 
Then, on the eve of the ball, the patrician idyll is shattered. A coach careens up the drive carrying Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who with her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been banned from Pemberley. She stumbles out of the carriage, hysterical, shrieking that Wickham has been murdered. With shocking suddenness, Pemberley is plunged into a frightening mystery.
 
Inspired by a lifelong passion for Austen, P. D. James masterfully re-creates the world of Pride and Prejudice, electrifying it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted crime story, as only she can write it.

• ISBN10: 0307950654
• ISBN13: 9780307950659
• Publish Date: 1 January 2013 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780307950659

Reviews

[jeannamichel]

I’m happy I read this, having had it on my shelf forever. So now I can finally watch the TV show. However, I don’t think the mystery held much weight. In fact there was little mystery conducted as everyone just assumed that the one obvious suspect was to blame. Ugh.

[MurderByDeath]

“Heaven and earth — of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?” 

Austen had no way of knowing it, but it wasn't Elizabeth Bennett that would pollute the shades of Pemberley; it was P.D. James.

A couple of pages in, I thought "oh, this is looking good - 4 stars at least".  

After a few chapters and the mindless, never ending digressions started piling up, I thought "blah, blah, blah. 3 stars."

Then the part where Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam and a lawyer start debating the merits of England adding an appeals court to their judicial system, with Darcy's monologue about how it would work, how many judges it would have, etc. and I thought "are you kidding me with this?  2 stars".

The ending of the "mystery" (there is no mystery, only a murdered man and the most ludicrously contrived plot I've ever read) was so sputteringly (made up word) ridiculous, and the epilogue a mind-numbing, insulting rehash of the ending to P&P that my last thought as I closed the book:  

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.  1 Star.  This was awful.

[clairelm]

I'm not a big fan of classics (and a big fan of crime), I thought I would enjoy this much more than Pride and Prejudice but I was wrong and I'm full of a new appreciation of Jane Austen's genius in writing the original book.

Having said that, I did enjoy P.D. James' book and thought it was very well written and a gripping story which I struggled to put down.

[elvinagb]

P. D. James does it again! I honestly did not figure this 'murder' and had to wait until the conclusion of the trial. This book is beautifully written and well plotted.

[Grace]

Always a fan of Jane Austen's books, I added this Pride and Prejudice murder mystery sequel to my Nook as a Christmas present to myself. I have to admire those authors with the courage to attempt to write Austen sequels, as they are held to astronomically high standards and the results can be disastrous (case in point: [b:Vampire Darcy's Desire: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation|6515734|Vampire Darcy's Desire A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation|Regina Jeffers|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275780111s/6515734.jpg|6707533]).

I gave this book two stars because it was just "meh." I felt like I was reading about entirely different characters who happened to have the same names and same stations in life. Elizabeth was no longer witty; she was just quiet and worrisome. The only characters who seemed accurately portrayed were Mr. Wickham and Lydia.

My biggest complaint was the number of times that the events preceding, during, and following the murder were rehashed throughout the novel -- I am not exaggerating when I say it must have been at least ten, and because the author (very effectively, to her credit) emulated Austen's prose style, each time was always extremely verbose. I found myself sighing loudly every time someone was asked to describe their version of the evening's events. I felt that the first 200 pages or so could have easily been condensed down to about 50 without losing any of the story's integrity.

One thing I did like, however, was the author's sneaky insertion of characters from Austen's other books -- Sir Walter Elliot from Persuasion and Harriet Martin from Emma. I have to admit that recognizing those characters made me smile!