I enjoyed this installment of Gray’s Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mysteries even more than the previous book, The Late Mrs. Willoughby. I think in large part this is because the main characters and the setting for this one are straight from Pride and Prejudice, featuring a couple of my favorite characters: Lady Catherine and Mr. Collins. After two successful sleuthing adventures, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney have returned to their own lives. Jonathan is back at Pemberly with his parents Lizzie and Darcy, while Juliet is at Northanger Abbey with her mother Catherine and father Henry Tilney. Most unexpectedly, the two young people receive letters from Lady Catherine de Bourgh demanding that they come to Rosings. It seems someone is trying to murder Lady Catherine! Jonathan arrives with his father Mr. Darcy, nephew of Lady Catherine, while Juliet is accompanied by her father. Jonathan and Juliet are thrilled to see each other, but neither seems to comprehend that the other has fallen in love with them. Jonathan is convinced that Juliet’s heart was broken by another in their previous investigation and that his behaviors (he is on the autism spectrum) are off putting. Juliet suspects that her inferior social and financial position make her off limits for the Darcy family. The fraught situation is not helped by the fact that the senior Mr. Darcy and Mr. Tilney do NOT hit if off and are suspicious of each other’s children.
The fun of this story though is what is going on with Lady Catherine. She is such a great character as written by Jane Austen, and Claudia Gray certainly does her justice. It seems that several attempts have been made on Lady Catherine’s life; initially, Jonathan and Juliet suspect that Lady Catherine is overstating the situation but then more attempts are made that cannot be denied. The suspects include Lady Catherine’s daughter Anne, her husband Colonel Fitzwilliam, and the entire Collins family: Mr. Collins, Charlotte and their children Katy and Deb. Katy is short for Catherine and Deb is short for de Bourgh, which I find hilarious. Jonathan and Juliet diligently question their suspects and servants while also trying to determine what motive anyone might have for trying to kill Lady Catherine. Turns out, there are all kinds of secrets at Rosings, even amongst the most seemingly harmless people. And whoever is responsible for the murder attempts is not giving up just because Jonathan and Juliet are there.
As before, Gray takes known characters from Austen’s novels and gives them interesting, rich lives full of complications. Parent/child relationships are front and center this time: there are Juliet and Jonathan and their parents, but also Anne and Lady Catherine, and the Collinses and their children, and so on. Children with special needs are also highlighted here and I think Gray does a wonderful job with this. As the parent of two on the autism spectrum, I think her portrayal of Jonathan’s autism is pretty good, but in this novel, there are other health and behavioral conditions addressed, too, and the toll that this special care takes on both child and parent.
This series is really satisfying for me as a lover of Austen and mysteries. And it’s a fun start to summer.
