I am a fan of the Austenite literature and was joyed when I received Death Comes to Pemberley as a Christmas gift. It is a fun read that I definitely recommend. P.D. James is a master of her craft. Her style, I would describe to others, is Jane Austen meets Michael Connelly with a touch of John Grisham. Death Comes to Pemberley is insightful and realistic with the approach of crime. The reader is immersed in the life of Pemberley and revisiting beloved characters from Pride and Prejudice then the story is interrupted with a murder on the grounds of Pemberley Estate. From there the story follows the investigation, court proceedings and life afterwards (which I was very pleased with the fate of the Wickhams, too bad it could not have happened earlier). It was interesting how similar yet changed the process of law is from then to now. I also appreciated that while the reader is walked through the process of an investigation to its resolution, it is a crime novel, and it was not tedious or over-burdening.
P.D. James did a wonderful job staying true to the characters of Pride and Prejudice. Even thinking back on the book now, there are not any discrepancies that stick out to me. I was very relieved with this because that is generally the downfall of the Austenite spinoffs. Their histories, mannerisms, speech, relationships, everything, were thought out and continued on in a way even Miss Austen could be happy with. I was also surprised when, towards the end of the book, we learn the resolution of one of the issues and suddenly, the names of that portion were surprisingly familiar. I was not sure what to think since I had, obviously, never read this book before. After a moment, I realized that the author was able to weave in characters from Emma!
If P.D James continues to write about characters born of our beloved Jane Austen, I will definitely read them.
P.D. James dlearly loves Pride & Prejudice and knows it inside out. To adapt her writing style to Jane Austen's writing style is like Meryl Streep's acting out a new character down to the mannerisms, speech and accent. Great imagination and fantastic means of filling in the reader as to what has happened in the past six years and what happened years ago (the stuff the Jane Austen did not fill us in on). Her mystery novels are spectacular though somewhat difficult to read if you are in a busy place like an airport.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, I agree. Not a book to pick up and put down over and over but a book to have time to sit down and delve into. A friend told me she heard an interview with P.D. James and that the author said she had no idea there were so many novels out there that continue Austen’s stories and characters. Probably one of the reasons this novel was a treasure.
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