Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

Worth the Read: No

*

I do not consider myself a Jane Austen purist. I'm far from it, actually. I thought it very clever of Ms. James to add an apology to Ms. Austen, saying that she in no way, shape or form meant to offend fans of Pride and Prejudice. With that said, however, I was disappointed in the portrayal of Ms. Austen's characters in this novel.

     Lydia is her usual self, Mary and Catherine are absent from the book and Jane and Lizzy are not at all the Jane and Lizzy readers have loved. On top of that, Mr. Darcy seems uncharacteristically compassionate and Bingley, the man I'd originally fallen in love with, seemed very dimwitted. Georgiana was much more of a flirt, although we didn't get to know her super well in Pride and Prejudice, so, Ms. James took full creative liberty with her.

     As for the plot, I found it rather boring. I feel that mysteries need to be compelling to the point of always making readers wonder what will happen next, but during this book, I found myself thinking, "When will this end?!" The passages in this book

     You have to give credit to PD James for being in her 90's and still writing. That is the impressive thing about this book. With that said, for a contemporary mystery novel, this book was  very padded with words, had boring characters and I didn't find it to be worth the read.