One of my favorite customer service people at the Mail Plus store on South Street called my attention to “Death Comes to Pemberley” by P.D. James a couple of months before it came out in December.
The book is a P.D. James mystery in a Jane Austen setting, a kind of sequel to “Pride and Prejudice.” While skeptical that anyone, even the fabulous P.D. James, could do justice to Jane Austen, I was intrigued. Over the holidays I began “Death Comes to Pemberley.”
James creates the setting just a few years after Elizabeth Bennett marries Mr. Darcy. As the story opens, Elizabeth’s sister Lydia arrives at Pemberley on a dark and stormy night, to announce hysterically that her husband, the notorious Wickham, has been killed in the Pemberley woods.
From there, a classic mystery evolves. P.D. James writes well, and she crafts a mystery just as well. I enjoyed reading this story. I liked the references to “Pride and Prejudice” and even to other Austen novels. But I missed two critical pieces–Austen’s light touch, and her focus on the women.
Alas, I’m married to someone who doesn’t appreciate Jane Austen’s sense of humor. I’ll often read aloud from what I consider a hilarious excerpt, and he just doesn’t laugh. But really, that humor is all over Austen. It’s in her clever conversation and observed gestures. The central act of this book, a death, squelches any chance of the light touch. The sense of appropriate solemnity at Pemberley hangs heavy throughout the story.
Much of the action revolves around Mr. Darcy, a stand-in for Adam Dalgliesh perhaps. I found myself wishing that P.D. James had instead woven the story around Elizabeth.
I don’t like what I’ve written because I wanted to love this book, and hoped to have only good things to say about something written by P.D. James.
I’ll still recommend this book to mystery readers, and even to fans of Jane Austen as an interesting accessory. I just won’t go overboard in my enthusiasm, and I’ll be clear that this is definitely a P.D. James book. And as I should have known from the start, if I want Jane Austen…then I need to read Jane Austen.
During our October 2011 meeting, the Just Desserts mystery fiction group discussed the body of work of mystery author Louise Penny, creator of the Inspector Gamache series of cozies.
These books were discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on October 27th, 2011. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this series in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
The Just Desserts group now takes its winter hiatus, and will return on January 26th, at South Branch Library (6:30 p.m.), as we discuss Delectable Mountain by Earlene Fowler.
And, for additional reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts!
What do you think of the works of Louise Penny?
During the Nov/Dec 2011 hiatus between meetings of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group, we encourage regular attendees to continue to participate as a group…but in a virtual way. While we may not have an actual meeting scheduled during these two months, this blog is available to keep everyone active with their mystery reading and discussions.
Our “hiatus author” for 2011 is Georges Simenon, creator of the legendary sleuth Inspector Maigret. We encourage Just Desserts participants to read any book in the Inspector Maigret series (or watch an episode of one of the Maigret TV or movie adaptations), at some point in November or December 2011, then come back here and leave a comment about whatever you read or watched, as a response to this discussion topic.
As a bit of background, here are some links to Simenon and Maigret information:
In all, there have been 75 novels and 28 short stories written by Simenon that feature Maigret, and the Lincoln City Libraries still have over 45 of these.
We look forward to seeing your comments here over the course of the next two months!
Scott C. – Just Desserts coordinator and host
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the October 27th, Just Desserts meeting, after discussing our monthly “assigned” book, we did a round robin at the table, asking attendees to share what mysteries they’d been reading lately that they felt they could recommend. Here’s a list of the novels that were hot in October with this mystery-savvy crowd:
Non-Mysteries read recently by group members:
So, what mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the September 29th Just Desserts meeting, after discussing our monthly “assigned” book, we did a round robin at the table, asking attendees to share what mysteries they’d been reading lately that they felt they could recommend. Here’s a list of the novels that were hot last month with this mystery-savvy crowd:
Non-Mysteries recommended by group members:
So, what mysteries have you been reading that you’d recommend?