The Murder of Mr. Wickham (MR. DARCY & MISS TILNEY MYSTERY)
A summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Jane Austen's Mr. Wickham—one of literature’s most notorious villains—meets a sudden and suspicious end in this brilliantly imagined mystery from a New York Times bestselling author featuring Austen’s leading literary characters.
“Had Jane Austen sat down to write a country house murder mystery, this is exactly the book she would have written.” —Alexander McCall Smith
The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.
Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. In this tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.
A VINTAGE ORIGINAL
“Had Jane Austen sat down to write a country house murder mystery, this is exactly the book she would have written.” —Alexander McCall Smith
The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.
Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. In this tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.
A VINTAGE ORIGINAL
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Community Reviews
There are certainly people to whom I would recommend this book; there was potential from the beginning and the author makes a good attempt at bringing established characters from the various works of Jane Austen’s novels into a new environment. That said, I have my complaints:
First of all I found the choice of casting a bit too ambitious. Brining the main characters from each of Austen’s popular novels into the central cast resulted in too many point of views. While I did appreciate the new characters I think a more moderate selection of the main and supporting cast would have been more fitting for the setting.
A secondary issue I had was the pacing: While Austen’s works can be drawn out at times, there is usually enough character and/or story development taking place along with a good helping of witty dialogue to carry the reader through the more tedious segments. In “the Murder of Mr. Wickham” however, there are many points in which the story drags on without much change. This might not have been an issue if it were merely a regency-era drama, but as the book is set up as a murder mystery, I expected and would have appreciated a bit more tension and climax throughout the story.
In general it’s not a bad book, but as someone who both enjoys Jane Austen’s works and appreciates a good mystery, I think this book was rather disappointing.
Conclusion: I was expecting a witty and exciting crossover story starring Austen’s beloved characters, what I got instead was a slightly disappointing fanfic.
I really like Jane’s books and mysteries but this was not for me, there was definitely some potential at the beginning but I didn’t like it
This was a fun, easy read to celebrate finishing reading all of the Jane Austen novels. I enjoyed the crossover aspect and seeing the characters from different stories interact, I think that's the real selling point of the book. I did enjoy the murder mystery and the author did a good job of creating plenty of motives and red herrings to keep you in suspense. I would recommend this if you are familiar with Jane Austen's works and characters, but would not recommend it otherwise. The author assumes you know these characters well already. There is a lot of POV switching. In my opinion, probably too much switching, it may have been better to just focus on the POV of the two new characters. The many POVs makes it harder to follow especially if you haven't already got the backstory and nuance of their perspectives from their characterization in the Jane Austen novels.
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