annieb123's Review of The Late Mrs. Willoughby

by Claudia Gray

The suspenseful follow-up to New York Times-bestselling author Claudia Gray's The Murder of Mr. Wickham: Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy team up again to solve the murder of the scoundrel Willoughby's young wife.

The Tilneys of Northanger Abbey are not entirely pleased to be sending their young daughter out into the social world again: the last house party she attended involved a murder—which she helped solve. She will be the guest of her new friend, Marianne Brandon, who has a scandalous shadow hanging over her. Even more troubling is the fact that Marianne's former suitor, the rakish John Willoughby, is setting up his household near by, complete with a young wife.

The Darcys of Pemberley are thrilled that their eldest son has been invited to a country house party by an old schoolmate. Other former classmates will be there, for riding and shooting and other proper pastimes for young men. Jonathan is less taken with the idea of sharing a roof with his old bully, but when he finds himself reunited with his sleuthing partner, the radiant Miss Tilney, he doesn't mind so much.

When Willoughby's young wife dies horribly in the midst of an elegant party, they have good reasons to spend a great deal of time together ferreting out the truth. As the local gentry, the sprawling Dashwood clan, and an old schoolmate of Jonathan's who is eager to add his "modern" scientific methods to the sleuthing duo's investigations (and perhaps get closer to Juliet than Jonathan is comfortable with) complicate the scene, eerie incidents suggest that the killer may strike again, and that the pair may be in far graver danger than they or their families could imagine.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Late Mrs. Willoughby is the second Regency romance/mystery featuring Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney written by Claudia Gray. Released 16th May 2023 by Knopf Doubleday on their Vintage Anchor imprint, it's 400 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. Large print library bound edition due out in 4th quarter 2023. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

This is an homage series, featuring some of the iconic characters from Austen's classic works, (this one revisiting Sense & Sensibility). This outing sees an apparently neurodivergent Darcy solving a poisoning murder along with his partner / potential romantic lead Juliet Tilney. Much of the plot stretches the boundaries of belief and readers need to bring a healthy suspension of disbelief to the read.

The story is self contained in this volume, so it works very well as a standalone mystery. If read out of order, readers should be aware that there are references to the plot and incidents from the first book, which could give spoilers if read out of order.

The writing is occasionally overwrought and tries too hard for Austen homage and comes across as well edited fanfic. Three and a half stars. It's well written, very well edited and polished, but ultimately recommended mostly for die-hard Regency romance/mystery fans, and not so much for fans of historical Jane Austen who won't be fooled for a second.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

17 September, 2023: Started reading

17 September, 2023: Finished reading

18 September, 2023: Reviewed