Haven't written a review for this one yet, but overall I was a bit disappointed. A nice start, but became plodding in the end.

UPDATE 10 May 2012: Full review below...

P.D. James does a murder mystery with Fitzwilliam and Lizzie Darcy! What's not to love! Well, quite a bit actually.

Apart from some cheeky sparkle early on (where common gossip was dissected to show that obviously Lizzie had chased Darcy from the start), it's definitely no Jane Austen. And it was hardly vintage James either.

It was curious that James was quite preoccupied with the servants and the lower classes, something that Austen never really discussed. Or at any rate, not at that level. I didn't find it fascinating to read about the servants, but I thought it was interesting that James wrote about that, rather than the upper class chatter of Austen. And we get much more from Darcy's point of view than in Pride and Prejudice, he's more the major character than Lizzie is. And he was a well-written character, it was interesting being inside his head, instead of just seeing him from Lizzie's point of view in the original novel.

Sadly, the murder mystery was lacking. The actual resolution was interesting (if far more Jamesian than Austenian), but it was a slow plodding mess getting to that resolution. And a major plot hole (? or at any rate something quite unexplained): MINOR SPOILER ALERT why was Lydia never called to the witness stand? Surely she could verify and explain a thing or two (or five). Women were allowed to testify, as we got the innkeeper's wife. But, apart from a shrieking hysterical scene to kick the whole thing off, and the occasional annoying scene as she demonstrates her brattish ways, she's really sidelined when she should have been much more involved.

Loved the idea, she had some excellent cheeky snark in the opening, but then it just plodded. If you're looking for Jane Austen delight, look elsewhere.

Releasing at bookdrinks tonight.

Happy hunting/reading!

I unceremoniously grabbed this one when it hit the table at the April 2012 Sydney BookCrossing MeetUp. I have been wanting to read it ever since it was published.

Well, I read it pretty fast, but not perhaps as fast as if it had been a contemporary PD James' novel. It's a workmanlike success for the goal: writing a murder mystery in the manner of Jane Austen's writing and context. I agree with TQD re plodding towards the end. Everyone lives, relatively, happily ever after though.

To be released at the May 2012 Sydney BookCrossingMeetUp, at the Crown Hotel, 162 Elizabeth St, in the upstairs Library Bar.

The Sydney CBD BookCrossing MeetUp happens on the second Tuesday of the month from 7pm (or a bit earlier) to 9pm (or whenever the conversation winds down). All readers welcome! Get on the list for an invitation to a future meeting by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bcsydmeetup/ ... but you don’t need an invitation to turn up. Just bring a book to release.

Picked up at Bookcrossing meeting last night.

I found it a bit slow paced and dull and gave up on it.

To be released at Bookdrinks.

Picked up at the June 2012 Sydney MeetUp. Good fellowship, as always.

This was an orphan, picked up to re-release somewhere else.

Released early this afternoon on the book exchange shelves on Level 1.