In Death Comes to Pemberley, the incomparable P.D. James has drawn a puzzling mystery around the characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Six years after her marriage to Fitzwilliam Darcy, Elizabeth has settled easily into her new life as the mistress of Pemberley. Her sister Jane has settled with Charles Bingley within a comfortable distance, as have Mary (yes, Mary, not Kitty) and her husband, the Reverend Theodore Hopkins. Just before Pemberley's annual autumn ball, a thundering coach screeches to a halt at the front doors. Out stumbles a hysterical Lydia. Her husband, George Wickham, lies dead somewhere in the estate's woodlands, and a disturbing murder investigation begins.
James draws heavily upon Austen's early 19th-century Pemberley and London for inspiration, but her signature mesmerizing style brings new life to the settings and the characters as the story progresses. She doesn't attempt to replicate the distinctive voice of Pride and Prejudice, but she does deliver authentic dialogue that carefully avoids anachronism. Of all the stories written based on the works of Jane Austen, Death Comes to Pemberley seems one of the most likely to win approval from the authoress herself. --Sarah Borders, librarian, Houston Public Library