Pride & Prescience embroils the joyous newlyweds from Pride & Prejudice in a mystery involving one of their wedding guests, the lovely Caroline Bingley, who is engaged to marry a rich and charismatic American. Unfortunately this windswept courtship is marred by many strange events such as nocturnal wanderings, spooked horses, carriage accidents, and even an apparent suicide attempt. Soon the whole Bingley family seems to be the target of a sinister plot, with only the Darcy's recognising the danger. The Austen genre of regency romances mixes with the gothic unearthly threats of Radcliffe and the Brontes where sinister forces are afoot and the Darcys must get to the bottom before the blushing bride descends into madness or worse.
I had put off reading these for ages, because I normally don't like a new author taking a beloved set of characters from the classics and 'extending' their stories. But this was recently recommended to me by a GR friend who felt that the author did a credible job with the characters. I must say, I agree. I love the original Pride and Prejudice, and was relieved to find that Ms. Bebris did a fantastic job of respecting Ms. Austen and the characters themselves.
The mystery itself was clever. I don't often vacillate between suspects, but reading this, I at once knew who the culprit was, only to change my mind several times in the course of just a few chapters. In the end, ultimately, the villain is not a shocker, but I have to say, I just wasn't sure until the denouement. There was also a paranormal element to all of it that I hadn't expected and enjoyed quite a bit.
A fabulous read I'm happy to say I discovered when there are a whole raft of additional books in the series just waiting to be bought and read - I look forward to being happily entertained by one of my favorite all-time fictional couples for quite a while to come.
Reading updates
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10 September, 2012:
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10 September, 2012:
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Started reading
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Finished reading
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10 September, 2012:
Reviewed