Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 352
Released On: 05/12/2024
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that London’s first female solicitor in possession of the details of a deadly crime, must be in want of a suspect.
The tenacious Lizzie Bennet has earned her place at Longbourn, her father’s law firm. Her work keeps her busy, but luckily it gives her plenty of reasons to consult (and steal occasional kisses) with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a stern but secretly softhearted solicitor at Pemberley.
Lizzie is hired to investigate a deadly warehouse fire and to find the mysterious woman who was spotted at the scene moments before the flames took hold. But when the case leads to the sitting room of a woman Darcy once proposed marriage to, the delicate balance between personal and professional in their relationship is threatened.
Questions of the future are cast aside when the prime suspect is murdered and Lizzie’s own life is threatened. As the body count rises and their suspicions about what was really going on in the warehouse grow, the pressure is on for Lizzie and Darcy to uncover the truth.
*****
Thanks to HarperCollins for the gifted proof of this title in return for an honest review.
It took me a little while to get into this. I can’t say exactly why. It might not have been the book itself, and more to do with my general concentration levels, I don’t know. But I found my mind wandering a bit. But I stuck with it and I’m glad I did as it was really charming.
Having said that, I admit it does start off with a bang. I suppose that’s a good thing about writing pre-existing characters because you don’t really need to introduce them. We already know of them, and now Tirzah is just building on them, which means we can get straight into the story.
I love Pride and Prejudice, like most book lovers, and so I was a little way as to whether this adaptation would work. But it did. I was reminded of Jessica Bull’s Miss Austen Investigates; putting a spin on classical names. And what Tirzah – and Jessica – proved is that you can change well-known characters but write them sensitive to what came before.
I love a cosy crime novel, a whodunnit, an historical novel, a bit of romance…so the combination sounded right up my street.
It’s got everything you want frrom a book with these characters; it has the things we love and expect, but it’s got enough inventiveness to make it something new and fresh, which is quite difficult to do with characters 200+ years old.
I didn’t realise it was linked to another of Tirzah’s books. I can’t say if not knowing about it had a detrimental effect on me…because I didn’t know, so I just took it as it is. So if you have read the other ones, great, I’m sure you’ll get more from it, but if like me you’re going in new, then you are not at a disadvantage.
It’s got everything – history, romance, crime, a bit of family drama. It’s quite light. I think if you’re not a big historical fan or big crime fan, or if you’re new to the genres, but want to see what all the fuss is about, this would be a good start, as it’s quite gentle but doesn’t skimp on anything.
What I will say is that I would have liked a bit more of…something. It’s about the crime, but it’s also about the potential romance, but I found it didn’t fully focus on one or the other. What is there is really good and enjoyable, it’s not a criticism on what is there. I’d have just liked more focus on the romance OR more focus on the crime, but that’s just me.
Overall, it’s a light-hearted but powerful story, using some of literature’s best loved characters but in a new and fresh way, with thrills and spills, love and tears. I love reading about strong women in a time where they were meant to hide away, and Lizzie Bennett is such a woman in the original Pride and Prejudice, and she is such a woman in this book. So I think Tirzah has hit the right balance there. It’s enjoyable, quick to read, and surprisingly a lot funnier than I was expecting it to be, which was a nice surprise.
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