A Jane Austen Mystery

I have a penchant for Jane Austen and material inspired by her or her works. Can’t help it! Her novels hit home for me and I’m not alone in this view. She is a literary mastermind and has made a killing in the literary and film community, even if she doesn’t reap the benefits these days seeing as she’s six feet under. Jane Austen fan fiction is fun to read, but hardly EVER done right. How do you imitate an author with a voice from a different era and a distinct understanding of her characters and society in an accurate manner? You don’t. You shoot for the moon and land among the stars.

Well, Death Comes to Pemberley  by P.D. James is the Jane Austen wannabe up for discussion this week. Eight years after their marriage, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam plan to hold their annual October ball. On the eve of the ball, a dark and stormy night of course, tragedy ensues. George Wickham is back at Pemberley as a suspect to one of his friend’s murders.  Could murder be another item to add to his rap sheet? The novel takes place over several months as the case is taken from Pemberley, to the local courts and then to London where a decision is to be made on Wickham’s guilt or innocence.

First let me start by informing you that PD James is a mystery/thriller writer. She wrote the book The Children of Men, which some of you might remember as a Clive Owen movie. But for the most part, she does mystery and is not a Jane Austen fan fiction writer. The novel is apparently meant as more of a mystery with the backdrop of Pemberley, than a Pride and Prejudice fan fiction with murder.

Small amounts of what has happened since we last left off with our characters is given, but mostly, the novel dives into the present. The novel jumped between characters, following Elizabeth sometimes and Jane others, but mostly it stuck with Darcy. He is the male and thus decorum dictates that he is in charge of making sure the proceedings of the murder and the ensuing trial are arranged. Not work for the ladies. Jane Austen has a heightened sense of understanding of character and although I felt James started off well, I did not feel attached to my characters like I do in Austen’s novels. I was disappointed by the way James portrayed characters like the Colonel.

The epilogue felt so misplaced. It went from the wrap up of the murder to Elizabeth and Darcy talking about the past and mistakes they made when they were first getting to know one another. James tried to have it both ways, as a mystery and Pride and Prejudice follow up, but the take on the characters and their lives now just wasn’t there and the epilogue felt like a cop out trying to give Jane Austen fans a little of their favorite book.

Jane Austen’s voice was slightly present, but the ensuing novel felt more like a gimmick to draw in a certain audience than a tribute to one of the great English writers. If you like mystery and police procedurals, than perhaps you should try this, but I don’t even think it’s that interesting as far as mystery novels go.

Verdict: Disappointing, but not unreadable.