Pride and Prejudice and Law and Order
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, hardcover, Php995 at National Bookstores.
Pride and Prejudice may be an 18th century English novel about a vulgar woman desperately throwing her five daughters at the nearest eligible bachelor, but its spirited heroine, its unlikeable yet irresistible leading man, its totally believable characters and its witty observations on love, money and society are delightful in any age. It has spawned two genres: the romance novel (inc Regency romances, bodice-rippers and things with shirtless men on the cover) and chick-lit. There are countless spinoffs and “sequels” to the novel set in the 18th century and beyond. In recent years we’ve seen Miss Elizabeth Bennet battling zombies while enticing the arrogant, supercilious, extremely rich Mr Darcy by not enticing him. Therefore news that Lizzy, Darcy, and all the familiar characters from the beloved Jane Austen novel are back in a murder mystery should surprise no one. Of course they should be in a murder mystery, what is Pemberley if not a great big country house full of potential suspects?
Death Comes to Pemberley is an hommage to Pride and Prejudice from one of the great mystery writers of this century, P.D. James. It opens at the Darcies’ (Darcys?) sprawling estate six years after the double wedding of Lizzy and Mr Darcy and Jane Bennet and dopey but nice and also very rich Mr Bingley. Having successfully married off four of her five daughters (even if Lydia’s marriage to that disreputable Wickham took place under less kosher circumstances) Lizzy’s mother is content. As a bonus she’s intimidated by Darcy so she hardly ever visits her daughter. The Darcies and the Bingleys have children and are exceedingly happy.
Then, on the night before the annual ball at Pemberley—a windy, evil night just begging for a murder mystery—that ditzy slut Lydia turns up unannounced, shrieking that her husband has been murdered. It’s just like that silly bitch to ruin the big event for everyone and try to make it all about her.
Characters from other Austen novels are mentioned in passing, the intricacies of the British criminal justice system are explained, and we learn about Darcy’s ancestors, including the great-grandfather who abandoned the estate to live in the woods with his dog.
Of course we love it.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 27th, 2012 at 06:04
jealous. hope i can get a hold of a copy here in istanbul.
have spent almost a month searching for hunger games books here. incidentally, hunger games are in most bookstores here but in turkish harhar :)
one of the reasons i miss manila: our english bookstores!
February 27th, 2012 at 10:32
Can’t wait to get a copy! Quite steep at 995 though. But bahala na. :)
February 29th, 2012 at 02:31
oooh! have put a hold on it at our library. i’m 139 on 11 copies. they’re ordering 3 more.
next year will be the 200th year of Pride & Prejudice.