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Death Comes to Pemberley
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Review
'As might be expected from a celebrated crime novelist, her follow-on to Pride and Prejudice introduces a detective story into Austen's world; but without any tremor of incongruity. An acute admirer of Austen's novels (which, her autobiography makes clear, she has been re-reading for more than 80 years), she keeps her sequel close to their ironic spiritedness, moral toughness and psychological finesse ... brimming with astute appreciation, inventiveness and narrative zest, Death Comes to Pemberley is an elegantly gauged homage to Austen and an exhilarating tribute to the inexhaustible vitality of James's imagination.' --Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
'P. D. James has the advantage in having both the skill and the intelligence to hold her own in Austen's company. Her charmingly conceived murder mystery unfolds like a big soft comfort blanket just in time for the nights drawing in: the nation's best-loved crime writer and best-known romance in a magic meld, with Downtony moments below stairs, spooky moonlit bits and some police procedural thrown in for good measure ... James takes Pride and Prejudice to places it never dreamed of, and does so with a charm that will beguile even the most demanding Janeite.' --Claire Harman, Evening Standard
The story is accomplished and witty, naturally, but to see James s sensibility at work on the character of Jane Austen is a wonderful treat. I find the merging of these two women of literature from such different ages to be totally intriguing. --Melvyn Bragg, New Statesman >>
A tribute to Jane Austen and a sheer delight. A book to banish Boxing Day blues. --Allan Massie, Spectator
'P. D. James has the advantage in having both the skill and the intelligence to hold her own in Austen's company. Her charmingly conceived murder mystery unfolds like a big soft comfort blanket just in time for the nights drawing in: the nation's best-loved crime writer and best-known romance in a magic meld, with Downtony moments below stairs, spooky moonlit bits and some police procedural thrown in for good measure ... James takes Pride and Prejudice to places it never dreamed of, and does so with a charm that will beguile even the most demanding Janeite.' --Claire Harman, Evening Standard
The story is accomplished and witty, naturally, but to see James s sensibility at work on the character of Jane Austen is a wonderful treat. I find the merging of these two women of literature from such different ages to be totally intriguing. --Melvyn Bragg, New Statesman >>
A tribute to Jane Austen and a sheer delight. A book to banish Boxing Day blues. --Allan Massie, Spectator
Book Description
P. D. James masterfully recreates the world of Pride and Prejudice, and combines it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly-crafted crime story.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some sparks, but never catches fire,
By
This review is from: Death Comes to Pemberley (Hardcover)
Taking a well loved classic and putting a new authorial spin on it is a risky venture, and fails more often than it succeeds. Generally, the second/modern author needs a new way of seeing which will be so powerful that it can stand, in the end, by itself, and be assessed on its own merits, rather than as pale comparison to the original work. The most obvious example of this being Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (Wordsworth Classics) and Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea (Penguin Modern Classics).Sadly, the normally excellent P.D. James comes nowhere close with her take on Pride and Prejudice. Like another reviewer, I started with high hopes. The 'sample chapter' which i downloaded on my Kindle had me smiling in delight, with its capture of the sparkle and wit of Austen and her characters, but the delicious and poised beginning began to unravel. I first had a sense of the dashing of my hopes when James, an author who I would have expected to avoid this authorial pitfall had one character asking for information which she would obviously have known, of another (a device many authors resort to when they want the readers to have certain information) Here, Elizabeth says to Jane 'Remind me how you came to know Mr Alveston' - this is a major new character who has stayed several times with the Bingleys, and has been brought by them as a guest on several occasions to Pemberley. Class conscious early nineteenth century is not so casual that thought would not have been taken before inviting someone to be a house-guest and Elizabeth and Darcy would have been well aware of Alveston's status. But this is minor, compared to a rather creaky plot (admittedly, there are a couple of nicely tossed herrings into the blend) and what is most unforgiveable/disappointing, the loss of the fabulously witty, sparky, intelligent Elizabeth and an intelligent, forthright Darcy, transformed into characters who are much less dynamic and vibrant. Elizabeth, particularly, in James' version is rather unmemorable. Some efforts are made to assure us all is not lost by the inclusion of a couple of letters from Lady Catherine de Bourgh and a few snippets about Mrs Bennett, but in the main James's book is rather dull stuff, without the wit of the original, and without the the psychologically dark interest one might expect from her own works. The denouement, frankly, was rather unbelievable. In the end, rather average. A much better book which uses Austen as a springboard for a murder mystery is first time author Lynne Shepherd's Murder at Mansfield Park, an imaginative spin on the original which twists Austen, but succeeds rather well
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing realisation of a good idea,
By Alun Williams "mathematician manqué" (Peterborough,England) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Death Comes to Pemberley (Hardcover)
I expect I am not alone in having bought this book because I was attracted by the idea of a murder mystery set in Pemberley. I'd fondly imagined that Elizabeth Darcy (née Bennett) would be a witty and perceptive detective, and that P. D. James would successfully channel Jane Austen's muse. I was to be disappointed on both counts. The plot is dull but complex, the writing is mostly dull (and no more than occasionally a pale shadow of Jane Austen's) , worst of all, Elizabeth herself is dull and passive. It's hard to escape the conclusion that this novel has been written to order, from a publisher's concept, to give an author whose powers are failing a more comfortable retirement. It is certainly very far from being the labour of love of a gifted writer, who knows Pride and Prejudice intimately, that one might have hoped for. Walk-on roles for characters from some of Jane Austen's other novels, while they may raise a smile, only serve to emphasise how poor the characterisation actually is. If one started with a hackneyed Victorian melodrama about a poor servant girl undone by a heartless aristocrat, and attempted to transplant it half a century back in time without worrying too much about period detail, changed some character names, and interpolated a few passages linking back to well-loved Jane Austen novels you would end up with something very close to this book. Don't buy it, or bother to read it.
331 of 357 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Death Comes to Pemberley,
By
This review is from: Death Comes to Pemberley (Hardcover)
P.D. James has often quoted "Pride and Prejudice" as being her favourite novel. It is also mine, and P.D. James one of my favourite authors, so I read this book with much excitement. Over the years, there have been many other writers who have attempted sequels or mysteries, using characters from "Pride and Prejucice", but none with the success that has been managed in this novel.The prologue cleverly recounts the essential facts of "Pride and Prejudice" and where the characters are currently at when we meet them again. It is Friday the 14th of October, 1803. England is at war with France and Pemberley is preparing for the annual Lady Anne ball, named after Darcy's mother, the sister of Catherine de Burgh. There are characters we know already at Pemberley - Darcy and Elizabeth of course, Bingley and Jane, Captain Fitzwilliam, now a viscount, and Darcy's sister Georgiana. There are also new characters, amongst them a lawyer friend of Bingley's, Mr Henry Alveston, who wishes to restore his family fortune and estate in Surrey. It is a windy evening, and there is a sense of preparation and also a slightly uncomfortable atmosphere between Captain Fitzwilliam and Mr Alveston, who are both competing for Georgiana's attention. Later, a chaise comes lurching and swaying towards the house. Nobody else is expected and to everyone's surprise, Lydia falls out, calling there has been a murder and screaming hysterically for help. It is always difficult to review a mystery book, as I have no wish to give away the plot. Therefore, I will leave it to you to discover who the victim is and what happened. What I will say is that P.D. James has expertly kept the characters of the original novel intact - you recognise Lydia, the letters of Mr Collins and Lady de Burgh ring true, and Mr Bennet is exactly as you expect. The author has found the spirit of the book and re-created it, with great new characters, such as the former head coachman at Pemberley, Thomas Bidwell, and his family and the magistrate, Sir Selwyn Hardcastle. It is easy to imagine life at Pemberley, with the slightly resentful local ladies who have lost Darcy as a marriage prospect, the ambitious footman and Louisa, Bidwell's daughter, intelligent and restless with the possibility of life as a parlourmaid. There is a sighting of a ghost in the grounds, an inquest and a trial, with thrilling courtroom scenes and a wonderful finale. I can only say that, as someone who has read "Pride and Prejudice" many times, I found this book extremely well written, enjoyable and believable. I am sure that, if you are also a fan of Miss Austen, you will also find this a worthy sequel to her work and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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