Tirzah Price

I have read quite a few Austen-Christie mash-ups, with Regency favourites (usually Elizabeth Bennet) turning amateur sleuth, but the cover won me over in this instance, I won't lie. I wish I could have beheld an actual printed copy instead of the grey Kindle version! And I wholeheartedly concur with any twist on the original novels where Austen's heroines have greater ambitions than finding a husband, in this case with Elinor and Marianne of Sense and Sensibility studying chemistry and show more training to be an investigator respectively.

However, something about the story just did not click for me, and I either kept falling asleep or putting off reading. I thought the twists were cute - Marianne's rival for Willoughby's affections is a club called Grey's, and her brush with death is rather more dramatic than wandering around in the rain - but I wasn't interested in the mystery, and to be fair, S+S is a pretty boring template to start with. Also, the Regency AU, where women can have careers and Edward Ferrars (renamed Farrow, for some reason) is an accountant, didn't work either. Why not change the setting to 1920s New York, for example, where the author's Americanisms (blocks and stoops abound in 1800s London) and modern dialogue wouldn't have been so jarring? There was no reason to stick with the early nineteenth century, apart from the Regency fetishists who read/watch Austen for the bonnet count and not the characters. show less

Lizzie Bennet wants nothing more to work for her father as a solicitor at Longbourn & Sons, but between her sex and her mother's determination, she's only allowed to look over contracts and when she does do a little investigating, annoying Mr. Collins gets all the credit. But when her father says she could be hired if she can successfully solve a case, she's determined to do just that. She happens across a murder accusation: Mr. Bingley is accused of murdering his brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, show more but the facts don't quite add up in Lizzie's mind. She's determined to take the case, even after she discovers that Bingley has already hired his good friend Mr. Darcy to defend him.

If you don't think too hard about the anachronisms, this is a really fun mashup of [Pride and Prejudice] and murder mystery. I couldn't always turn off that analytical part of my brain, but it was a fun ride all the same, and the author's note makes it clear that certain inaccuracies were intentional. Though romance is not the focus of this story (and some readers may be disappointed - or delighted - about which pairings from the book don't appear), the banter between Darcy and Lizzie is as delightful as ever. I particularly enjoyed seeing direct quotes of dialogue and narration from the original in different settings. At one point I got impatient thinking I'd figured out everything, but I was rather pleased when I was surprised by some events. Entertaining, light reading. show less

I enjoyed Pride and Premediation, but I was especially delighted by how cleverly and easily Sense and Sensibility could become a murder mystery. It even begins with a death! And making that death a murder doesn’t move the story away from the themes of Austen’s, it just means they are explored in a slightly different context -- the way Elinor and Marianne try to solve their father’s murder highlights their differences in personality and perspective.

This is an excellent retelling.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a brilliant idea, conceived and executed by a clever young woman, must be claimed by a man."

I never give 5 stars lightly - it always means I can imagine myself re-reading (or listening) to a book. I can absolutely see enjoying this book, just like a do Jane Austen's original work, over and over again. This is such a fun story. It's the same characters we know, the author cleverly kept their names, but they are in completely different roles.

And show more someone has committed murder.

I loved trying to figure out how all the pieces on the board moved together. I couldn't imagine who of my loved characters could now commit murder but I was quickly ready to point a finger at them all (who knew I was so disloyal?!). I loved the different lines I loved so much flowing out of other character's mouths. Such a fun story that didn't focus on love and marriage so much (which was a nice change of pace.) I look forward to enjoying this one again as I anxiously await the next in the series!!

An e-ARC was provided to me by the author and publishing via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. show less