The Suspicion at Sanditon (Or, the Disappearance of Lady Denham)

On their first visit to the up-and-coming Sussex village of Sanditon, Elizabeth (née Bennet) and Fitzwilliam Darcy are invited to a dinner party. But when their hostess, the wealthy widow Lady Denham, disappears before dinner is even served, the Darcys organize a search while trying to determine who would want to harm Lady Denham. Carrie Bebris (The Deception at Lyme) draws on Jane Austen's final (unfinished) novel for her seventh Mr. & Mrs. Darcy mystery, The Suspicion at Sanditon.

Bebris's setting and characters--Miss Charlotte Heywood, Lady Denham and her young companion, Miss Brereton, the Parker family--are mostly drawn from Austen's Sanditon. The mystery, however, is Bebris's own, and includes several classic elements of gothic fiction: a local ghost story, star-crossed lovers, a mysterious old mansion containing secret passageways. (Austen's heroines--or perhaps the author herself--would approve.) As the Darcys and their fellow guests search for Lady Denham, the other ladies of the party begin to disappear one by one. Concerned for their own safety and that of their new friends, Elizabeth and Darcy must find the culprit before anyone else comes to harm.

Many Austen fans delight in her entertaining minor characters, and Bebris's supporting cast is certainly quirky, though they often tip over into absurdity. Several romantic subplots, including one related to the ghost story, add depth to the narrative. The mystery's solution is a bit far-fetched, but the pleasure of the book--as of any Austen pastiche--lies in the period detail and familiar characters. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

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