The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, the guests are preparing to retire for the night when a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered. Inspired by a lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen, PD James masterfully recreates the world of Pride and Prejudice, and combines it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly-crafted crime story. Death Comes to Pemberley is a distinguished work of fiction, from one of the best-loved, most- read writers of our time.
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!
