[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and HarperTeen in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Lizzie Bennet longs to become a barrister and study the law and argue cases. But as a young woman – with a mother who thinks only of seeing her daughters married – that is never going to happen. But she holds out hope that her father will hire her to be a solicitor and investigator. He’ll have to be convinced, though, so Lizzie decides she will solve (another) case to prove her ability.
There’s been a murder and an arrest. Mr. Bingley is accused of killing his brother-in-law. Lizzie hopes to convince him to hire her father’s firm to represent him. (They could use the business!) And Bingley is impressed by Lizzie. But he already has help from his good friend, Mr. Darcy. Darcy is arrogant, condescending, and dismissive of Lizzie from the start.
Darcy’s plan seems to be to present Bingley as “too good” of a person to be a murderer. But Lizzie knows the only way to truly protect Bingley is to find the real killer. And she feels she is just the person to do that.
Review
Delightful!!
I have to confess: I’ve never read – or watched – Pride and Prejudice. I’ve never been able to make myself care enough to push through the reading. I love the Sense and Sensibility movie, but I could not get into that book, either. Austen just doesn’t click for me. But I do enjoy retellings in general, as well as mysteries, so I decided to give this a try. And I thoroughly enjoyed it!
There are TONS of nods to the original plot (which I read online) with regard to the characters and relationships, but also lots of twists to keep fans engaged. But you don’t have to have read Pride and Prejudice to enjoy this. The author takes some liberties with the timeline (which she explains in an engaging author’s note), but it didn’t bother me in the least. I am not a purist about such things.
The mystery was fantastically twisty. I figured out part but not all of it before the end, which I enjoyed. I like both solving the puzzles and being surprised by them. And I can’t wait to read more mysteries in this series. Book 2 – Sense and Second-Degree Murder – will release in 2022 and book 3 – Manslaughter Park – will release in 2023. Mystery fans and Austen fans should be sure to pick this one up asap!
Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*
*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read.