A book review seems rather frivolous with all that's going on in my life, but I'm tired of talking/writing about my current challenges, so... book review!
I love Jane Austen. I think I've read all her books (and seen the movies), but it's been several years, and since I'm getting old I've forgotten a lot of the details.
Carrie Bebris has taken Darcy and Elizabeth, the lovebirds from Pride and Prejudice, now a newly married couple, and put them in the position of solving a mystery. I think a good way to label it is Pride and Prejudice meets The Thin Man. (If you haven't seen The Thin Man movies, shame on you! Go out and rent them immediately!)
Well, maybe Pride and Prejudice meets The Thin Man meets a bit of mysticism. Bebris did a fairly good job of adding the fantasy elements--there was a believable amount of skepticism and open-mindedness among the characters. Overall, I thought the mystic elements felt a little out of place, but that might have been my attachment to Jane's original characters and settings.
I thought Bebris did a good job of setting up several suspects (all red herrings but one, of course) and keeping the reader guessing with dead ends (literally, in the case of one suspect). Toward the end I was actually having a hard time putting the book down, which is a high compliment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dialog, particularly the banter between the newly married Darcy couple. At first it seemed to me that the story was starting slowly, but I didn't mind because I was enjoying the dialog.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, or as Elizabeth might say, I found it very diverting. I intend to read the next one (it's a series).
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