Musings: Death Comes to Pemberley

Before I even start this review, I should say something.  I knew when I bought Death Comes to Pemberley that it was poorly received.  People do not seem to like this book, either as a Pride & Prejudice continuation or as a mystery novel.  But I was weak.  I had just seen a fantastic play version of Pride & Prejudice at the Lifeline Theatre with one of my awesome friends, and I was on a serious Austen high.  So when I saw the book in beautiful hardcover at a reasonable price at the pretty bookstore, I just grabbed it and decided to heck with poor reviews.

Sigh.

Death Comes to Pemberley picks up six years after the events of Pride & Prejudice.  Elizabeth and Darcy ("Fizz" to those who know him well.  Just kidding.) are living a tranquil and ideal life at Pemberley, raising their two boys, preparing to host their annual ball, hanging out with Georgiana and the Bingleys, when Lizzie's sister Lydia comes careening to Pemberley in a carriage, screaming that her husband has been killed and everyone must drop everything to look for him or save him.

Darcy ("Fizz"), with much justification, thinks, "Will I never pay enough money to be rid of Wickham?!" and then goes out with his cousin the Colonel to find his ne'er-do-well brother-in-law, who is unfortunately alive while his best friend Denny is dead from a blow to the head which Wickham claims he did not deliver.  This obviously creates a lot of Drama, and the story takes off from there.

Except that it never really does take off.  For the first 57 pages, we hear not one word from Mr. Darcy.  We spend the entire time in Lizzie's (not particularly interesting, I am sad to say) head, mulling over what to do about Georgiana's marriage prospects, finalizing guest lists, and fondly thinking about marital bliss.  Then Lydia shows up and we transfer completely to Darcy's point of view and never get back in Lizzie's head.  And Darcy is REALLY BORING.  While in P&P, Darcy is strong and witty, cool and collected, here he is unsure of his footing in his own home, his thoughts on the trial, his family structure, everything.  There is so much internal monologue going on that you can easily get lost in the details.

So, as a P&P sequel, I would not rate this book highly, mostly because we rarely see Darcy and Elizabeth interact at all, and when they do, it's not in any way memorable.  They are just always stressed out (understandably, as there was a murder on their property) and not sleeping well.  There also are not many links to the characters from Pride & Prejudice.  Jane and Bingley are here, there's a short but fantastic Lady Catherine cameo, and of course Lydia and Wickham make appearances, but that's basically it.  James spends about 20 pages of a prologue summarizing Austen's novel for us (why, I don't know, as she doesn't change anything about the novel in those pages), and then drops nearly all of those characters completely.  Even when she brings in the Wentworths of Persuasion and the Knightleys of Emma, it's done without much reference to those characters and their current lives at all.

But at least James got the mannerisms and speech and tone of the early 19th century right.  There is a lot of talk about how loyal people can be to a stately home, more so than to a family or a person.  Lots of talk about class and inheritance and the new mobility of marriage.  But James is really awkward in bringing these details to light in the novel.  For example, rather than weaving it into the story or involving the fact somehow in the mystery, she just tells us that it's weird for someone to order someone else's servants around, or for a butler to be carrying someone's luggage.  Good to know, but how does that relate to the story?!

And I think that's where this book most failed for me.  So little was related to the story itself.  For a mystery novel, there was very little suspense or intrigue, and the red herrings and clues were very sloppily done.  There was really no way of knowing the situation until the very end with a confession, and that often annoys me.  And, I have to say it, I really wanted Mr. Darcy to be a detective storming through the field of justice, leaving no stone unturned in his quest to ensure that Right Prevailed at his beloved Pemberley.  BUT THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.  Instead, Darcy was more of a bystander and did no mystery solving.  It was disappointing.

Overall, this was not my favorite Pride & Prejudice continuation. Really, it's unlikely that even Austen could continue that book and make it as amazing as the original, so I wish people would stop trying.  That way, poor sentimental sops like me could save some money here and there rather than impulsively buying books that can only disappoint.  Really great novel if you want to learn about English social customs of the early 19th century, but if you're after more details on Lizzie and Darcy after marriage, then you're out of luck here.