P.D. James (1920-2014) remains one of the best
known and best-read British mystery writers. Beginning in 1962, she wrote 14
Inspector Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, two about private investigator Cordelia
Gray, and three other novels. Her final novel before her death was Death
Comes to Pemberley,
which used the characters and setting of Jane Austen’s Pride
and Prejudice for a
murder mystery.
It is several
years after Elizabeth Bennett marries Fitzwilliam Darcy. They have two sons,
and Elizabeth has her hands full running the house of the Pemberley estate,
including planning for the annual ball. Unexpectedly, a horse-drawn carriage
comes careening up the drive. Inside is Lydia Wickham, Elizabeth’s sister and
the wife of George Wickham, a former army officer forced to marry Lydia is
something of a shotgun marriage. The hysterical Lydia says George and Captain
Denny, had bolted into the Pemberley woods, and then shots were heard.
Darcy and two of
his guests investigate, and come upon a drunk Wickham leaning over the body of
his friend. Wickham is eventually arrested and charged with murder.
Death Comes to Pemberley, published in 2011, was made into a British television mini-series
in 2013. I saw the series before reading the book, and the movie definitely
follows the written story closely.
The novel is in
the style of Austen, and it’s rather fun to see one approach to what has
happened to the characters of Pride and
Prejudice. But this last work by James is something of a departure from James’s
usual police procedural novels (some of the best written police procedural
novels available). And there is a considerable amount of narrative advancement
or backfilling that happens in the epilogue that could have been woven into the
main story.
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| P.D. James |
The main
narrative culminates in a trial with a surprise conclusion and unexpected
developments flowing from the trial.
I enjoyed the
novel, but this is one of those reverse situations where the television series
was better. And you can watch all three episodes on YouTube.
Top photograph: Chatsworth House in
Derbyshire, the setting for the television series Death Comes to Pemberley.
