She had even vaguely felt that it reflected ill upon her to have attracted an assassin of such incompetence, however grateful for that lack of skill she might be.

Having been thrown together by happenstance to investigate murder in the first two books, Mr. Jonathan Darcy and Miss Juliet Tilney are instead commanded to attend to Lady Catherine de Bourgh and stop the murder attempts being made upon her life. Young Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney are pleased to be able to see each other again and determined to catch the culprit before they are successful in their attempts. Their fathers are far less enthusiastic, though the do agree to travel to Rosings Park with them. Both fathers have every intention of quashing any possible match between their offspring. Lady Catherine thinks solving murders reflects poorly on both their characters, but she will condescend to set that aside.

One of the things that I think Claudia Grey does best is imagine Jane Austen’s characters outside of their books. She does a good job of keeping them consistent, while also looking at them through contemporary eyes. I continue to appreciate that her characters, even the villains are complex and dimensional. And when they are not, there is a reason for their flatness. She isn’t writing the characters and situations the way Austen would, but I don’t think she is remaking the characters. Mr. Darcy is still Mr. Darcy. It was interesting seeing the Collins after a couple of decades of marriage and family. Mr. Collins, of course, named his son De Bourgh (Deb) and his daughter Catherine (Kady). Anne de Bourgh is now Anne Fitzwilliam, having married her cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. If you are looking for a romance in this book, this is the romance you are given.

Jonathan, having listened to his father and become concerned for Juliet’s reputation, gets the two of them off on the wrong foot. But through working together, they become even closer, though not as close as some readers (me, I’m some readers) would like. It was interesting to watch their parents make some of the same mistakes we saw in Austen’s books. I’m interested to see how Claudia Grey is going to bring them together again, but I suspect we’re in for a few more books before Jonathan and Juliet are settled with each other.  Still, Gray does move them forward in interesting ways and hints at their next meeting.

There is so much I’m not talking about because it would be too spoilery.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Vintage Books and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.