I loved the concept of this book. And maybe it's just that I'm not a super huge fan of the "murder mystery" kind of plot, but this one really dragged on for me. That being said, if you love Jane Austin books and want to see Wickham murdered, this is the book for you. I loved the characters, and the writing style itself was very Austin-esque.

I really enjoyed this mashup where Agatha Christie meets Jane Austen. Austen's most famous couples are attending a house party when the dastardly Mr Wickham meets a terrible end and everyone is a suspect.. Who killed one of literatures more loathed villains? Marriages are tested and one's sense of propriety challenged when everyone is put under the microscope to discover the culprit.
Such a delight to read!

A cozy mystery is always a story to read - especially this one with it's a whodunnit needing to be solved before the clock ran out. This story was super heavy on Jane Austen references so you may be a little confused at times but even without superior knowledge of Jane Austen, you'll still thoroughly enjoy the story. I know I sure did!

The first read of the summer season comes in The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. The premise instantly hooked this Janeite reader. The idea of many of Austen’s beloved characters abiding in an Agatha Christie-like mystery seemed delectable, and it was! While all of Austen’s favorites are not present, Gray brings in most of the biggest names: the Darcys, the Brandons, the Knightleys, the Wentworths, plus a few newly created characters as well. Gray’s writing is pitch-perfect for the era, yet the style is very accessible and makes for great fun. Her wit amused me from the opening sentence. Clues regarding the identity of the killer of Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Wickham were sprinkled throughout the narrative, as is done in other cozy mysteries of this type. Gray keeps her readers guessing until the very end. With hindsight being crystal clear, the responsible party now seems obvious, but this knowledge and the enjoyable nature of the story are such that I actually would like to go back and re-read the opening scenes of the novel all over again. Details that I now know to be “clues” will be interesting to see from an omniscient position.

While this certainly is predominantly a mystery novel, Claudia Gray also takes time to explore the personal lives of Austen’s characters, as most of them have now been married for some time in this vision of Austen’s world. The original works are known for their “Happily Ever After” (HEA) endings, wherein the main characters ultimately fall in love, get married and ride off into the sunset within the blissful bonds of marriage. We readers sigh with delight, close the novels and return to real life, which includes relationships that don’t always achieve their HEAs. Gray’s cast members have taken on rhythms seen in many marriages– misunderstandings that have led to alienation, differences in temperament that sometimes cause conflict, etc. As the mystery swirls around the married couples, readers are also privy to the struggles that sometimes cause bewilderment within even the strongest relationships. As a woman who loves her husband of 27 years, I understand this to be true. Gray’s version of these individuals smacked of a realism that I found to be quite accurate for many, not just in the 19th century but in today’s world as well.

Because some of the characters are connected with the Church, the topic of faith and related issues come up more often than I’ve seen in other Austenesque novels that aren’t released from Christian publishing houses. The Bertrams of Mansfield Park in particular wrestle with how their faith impacts their choices, and the interpretation of Scripture is offered more than once. As a seminary student I cannot say that I completely agree with the hermeneutical posture of all the characters, but the intent behind their motivations is one of grace and love. Because of theological differences amongst readers, this is the only area in which my conservative readership might have any quibbles, but it is a small sub plot and not the main focus of the story. The content is predominantly family-friendly, with the topic of propriety being so common, it was almost a character in and of itself. I will say this: when interpreting the Word of God, single Bible verses should not be reckoned with in isolation. They need to be read and exegeted within their context. Ultimately I did appreciate the tack that Gray took in this aspect, in that Edmund Bertram could still hold on to his beliefs, while still extending love and grace to those with whom he disagreed. The path to that was not always one I would have taken, but the final position was a loving accord.

As may seem evident from the title, The Murder of Mr. Wickham is truly a love letter to Jane Austen’s most popular works. While Gray does endeavor to offer some background for each character, those who are already familiar with the stories of works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility and the like will enjoy the novel far more than newcomers will. If you are not inclined to read all six of the main Austen works, quality cinematic productions of the stories will temporarily suffice, if only to familiarize yourself with the characters. George Wickham of Pride and Prejudice is a despicable villain, so it is no surprise that he would lose his life by the hand of another. Claudia Gray’s work was thoroughly delightful, introducing readers to new aspects of Austen’s characters as well as bringing in fresh arrivals such as the Darcys’ son Jonathan and the Tilneys’ daughter Juliet. I loved the portrayal of the neurodivergent Jonathan and the plucky Juliet. I hope that their paths will cross in the future and we are treated to more adventures with them and their families. The Murder of Mr. Wickham was a fun way to kick off the summer reading season, and I give it a hearty recommendation.

The review of The Murder of Mr. Wickham is in the May 2022 issue of Gumshoe Review and is exclusive to them until June 2022. You may read the full review on their website:
<http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6913>

The first paragraph of the review:
Who that knows Mr. Wickham doesn't wish him ill? So, being a fan of Jane Austen's novels, when I saw The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray, how could I resist? Obviously, I couldn't. In fact, anyone who has read the works of Jane Austen is bound to find this novel just filled with surprises. I laughed, sighed, and worried about who would be found to have actually ended Wickham's life and freed so many people from his cruelty.

What a wonderful use of Jane Austen's characters. Set in 1820, when the main characters of most of the novels have been married for a while, many of them are drawn to a house party held by Mr. Knightley and his wife Emma. They are unacquainted with many of their guests but there are connections that have drawn them together. Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy bring their adult son Jonathan and so that there will be a young lady for him to meet, Juliet Tilney, the daughter of Catherine & Henry Tilney (from Northanger Abbey) is invited as well.
The house party has barely begun when Mr. Wickham, a very unwelcome guest arrives. Unsurprisingly, he has not reformed at all and the reason he has come is that he has managed to draw a number of the guests into a monetary scheme that fails for them but not for Mr. Wickham. His arrival immediately dampens the mood of the house party (and constant rain only adds to that) but when he turns up murdered, almost everyone is suspect.
Jane Austen fans will of course be immediately drawn to this novel, but it is quite appealing on its own, especially as the two young people enter into trying to solve the murder while having to work together within the constraints of well brought up Regency era ladies and gentlemen.

A charming murder mystery mash up in the world of Jane Austen. It was delightful to revisit all our favorite Austen heroines all together in one ill fated house party. What really makes the novel is the small asides and descriptions that play on the well known characters from the original novels (the description of Mrs. Elton alone is worth the price of admission). The mystery itself was less important to me, more a vehicle to have the characters interact.

Love a cozy mystery and this was great! I do wish I had gotten to read in the fall/winter but otherwise it worked perfectly for me. I enjoyed the pacing and liked that nothing felt forced!

As a huge Jane Austen fan who absolutely loathed Mr. Wickham, Claudia Gray's new novel The Murder of Mr. Wickham was a must-read for me. While I didn't love it quite as much as I thought it would, I still think it's a solid read, particularly as it lets Austen fans revisit nearly all of her most beloved characters. The nostalgia factor is high and has me wanting to go back and re-read all of Austen's novels.

I think Gray did a fabulous job of taking us back in time and making it quite plausible that the characters from Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park could all end up in the same place. I did find it a little jarring that the characters' lives all weren't the happily ever afters that I would have hoped for, but that said, the lives Gray has given them did feel pretty realistic.

I also quite liked that the overall novel had an Agatha Christie vibe in addition to its homage to Austen. It's basically a locked door mystery since horrendous weather had all of the suspects trapped in the same house with Mr. Wickham when he meets his demise. It was also fun that two young characters, were the main ones actively (and secretly) investigating everyone in the house.

The main issues I had were that the pacing was somewhat slow and that as much as I loved seeing all of these characters again, keeping track of all of them got a little complicated at times. Even with those issues, it's still an entertaining read though, one I would definitely recommend to Austen fans.

WOW! This book is SO GOOD! It is intriguing, gripping, full of mystery, and so much more! Whenever I picked up "The Murder of Mr. Wickham", I was whisked back in time, put on my detective hat, and went on quite the journey with this story.

Claudia Gray is such a fantastic writer! She brilliantly and seamlessly weaves many of Jane Austen's heroes and heroines into one story, adds original characters of her own, and has written a story in which, as the reader, I felt drawn into from the first page to the last. Her love and respect for Jane Austen is so clear, and I truly could not put this book down!

I do not want to say too much about the plot due to spoilers! In this whodunit, Emma and Mr. Knightley are hosting a party, which brings together many of Jane Austen's most famous couples, and two of their children.
When Mr. Wickham shows up uninvited, and is murdered, Jonathan, son of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and Juliet, daughter of Catherine and Henry Tilney step in to help solve the crime. Told from many varying points of view, this one kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going on.

If you enjoy Jane Austen sequels, I highly recommend this book! It kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next, and I can't wait to read Ms. Gray's next book (can this book please have a sequel, or sequels?!!)!

Thank you so much to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group-Vintage, Austenprose PR, Claudia Gray, and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel, and to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group-Vintage, and Austenprose PR for the finished copy as well, it is incredible! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Jane Austen - Clue- Agatha Christie mash-up you never knew you always wanted! Gray takes a few of Austen's most beloved couples and two of their children and throws the house party from hell in this cozy mystery.

Meet the suspects (ahem, guests): Middle-aged versions of Fitzwilliam & Elizabeth Darcy (plus their oldest son Jonhathan), middle-aged Emma & Mr. Knightly, Edmund & Fanny Bertram, and middle-aged Anne & Captain Wentworth who meet up with the newly married Colonel Brandon & Marianne and the daughter of Henry & Catherine Tilney, Juliet Tilney.

The Knightley's have invited everyone to their manor -Donwell Abbey for a house party. Yes, they all know all these characters somehow. One uninvited guest, Mr. George Wickham, turns up and turns the party on its head. Everyone has a reason to want Mr. Wickham dead (even the reader!). I kind of wished they'd all killed him together and hid the body, but alas, there is a culprit here and it's up to Jonathan and Juliet to solve the crime.

Jonathan is misunderstood, he seems to have a form of Aspergers/social anxiety/OCD which causes everyone to think he's strange, but Juliet takes the time to understand him. I was hoping for more romance between these two. Perhaps a sequel is in the works? The door is certainly left open for Juliet to travel between manor homes solving crimes (hopefully with Jonathan in tow).

How is there no Jane Austen themed Clue board game yet? The murderer, the room, the murder weapon - we need it NOW and Miss Gray proves it would be an intriguing concept.

This book was a treat. It's a little slow at times, but has the kind of characters you don't mind spending time with again. You get a sort of epilogue to "Emma," "Pride & Prejudice" and "Persuasion" (including the fates of secondary characters) in this. What are they all doing twenty years after the end of their books? You do NOT have to have read Jane Austen's novels to understand the plot, but much of the novelty will be lost on you if you haven't at least seen all the movies.

This book was very... restful, in a strange way -- particularly for a murder mystery. But the murder mystery really wasn't what drew me to it the most; rather, I appreciated the chance to "catch up" with some beloved characters. I generally enjoy Austen fanfic as an exercise of curiosity, even when it isn't well-executed. Here, it *is* well-executed. Claudia Gray does a lovely job paying homage to the cadence and tone of Austen's writing without mimicking it *so* precisely that it feels stilted to a modern reader. I'm not as familiar with Northanger Abbey and Persuasion as I am Austen's other novels, but Gray catches you up on the necessary details efficiently.

My biggest problem with this book is, perhaps, a matter of taste, but so much of it centers around people Not Talking. A little of that may serve the plot; a lot of it becomes tedious, and there was a LOT of it here. Several scenes repeated themselves, with married couples determinedly Not Talking About A Thing multiple times.

New characters Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney are both quite appealing. Though the book rotates, sometimes quite abruptly, through the heads of a dozen or so other (familiar) characters, we spend more time with these two than with any others, as they attempt to solve the titular murder. Juliet is new to society and trying to balance its expectations with her natural inclinations; Jonathan is neurodivergent in a world that has no name for that, and struggling to decipher the social codes that dictate his world. They find a good partnership with each other, though neither really seems certain if they truly *want* it to develop into more than that or if they're just *expected* to want that.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, but personally would've liked a bit more wit and verve out of its characters than a series of troubled silences.

This historical cozy mystery was absolutely fabulous for fans of Jane Austen or Agatha Christie !
I enjoyed how the Author brought most of the different Austen couples and three members of the next generation together in this book. It uses the secluded country house trope by setting it at Donwell Abbey home to Mr. and Mrs. Knightley in bad weather. The guests include the Darcys and their young adult son Jonathan, Captain and Mrs. Wentworth, Colonel and Mrs. Brandon, Mr. and Mrs. Bertram, and Juliet Tilney, along with one unexpected (and unwelcome) Mr. Wickham after Wickham‘s death Frank Collins is the investigating magistrate.
The idea of using these characters and their quirks as presented by Austen and expanding their fictional life by a couple of years and experiences to seamlessly weave them together while staying „in character“ was flawlessly executed. The historical fiction part was well done very in keeping with what could conceivably be done and what was simply not done. There’s humor, lots of motives and even some flirtation as the mystery of Mr. Wickham’s demise unfolds.
I loved it!

I received an advance reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

The Murder of Mr. Wickham is written in the style of Jane Austen and draws on many of her characters. I found it enjoyable and charming, but would undoubtedly gotten more out of it had I reread the Austen novels first. There were many characters to keep track of and I didn’t always succeed.

I do think that Jane Austen fans will enjoy this opportunity to engage with her characters again.

Super fun book in the spirit of Jane Austen. I really enjoyed it - 5 Stars!!!

The characters of Austen's books all converge on an house party hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Knightley. They are all tied together in some way by family connections which are explained by the author. An unexpected, unwelcome guest suddenly arrives and the whole house is thrown into chaos!!

Juliet Tilney is the teenage daughter of a lady novelist. She alone does not have a history with the others, and she is determined to figure out what really happened!

If you need to, I recommend you give yourself a quick refresh of the characters in Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, and Northanger Abbey. The author tries to stay true to the characters' dispositions, as well as show how they have changed since the end of their respective stories.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend as a book club pick!

Oh dear Mr. Whickham, please stay dead.. lol! Of course I wanted to read this book because any Pride and Prejudice lover would love the opportunity to dance on one’s grave. As Mr. Whickham is a scoundrel. I loved this P&P turned who-done-it Murder Mystery style!

Mr. Knightly and Emma are throwing a party and bringing together distant relatives. Not on the list is the one and only Mr. Whickham, who has done another financial scene; he’s money hungry and desperate like always. Yet when he shows up and he’s murdered it’s all a shock and turns the party into a crime scene of proportions.

I had feeling of P&P meets Clue in this book. I enjoyed the mash up. My only downfall was the pacing in some parts were a bit slow or redundant to me. But other than that, this book had me laughing and trying to also be a detective.

Claudia Gray writes an interesting tale of murder involving all the characters from Jane Austen books. So many things could have gone wrong for Gray, stepping into the great stories of Austen, and yet so much goes wonderfully right in the story of a murder of a much unliked character, Mr. Wickham.

Mr. and Mrs. Knightly are hosting friends for a house party at Donwell Abbey. Mr. Wickham shows up unexpectedly and must spend several nights due to inclement weather. Soon, he's found dead, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney take it upon themselves to investigate.

Told from many points of view, this is a walk back into your favorite books. It's obvious Gray is a superfan of Austen. The Murder of Mr. Wickham is a cozy mystery. It's a collision of worlds with a dash of adventure and a look into future characters.

Thank you NetGalley, Claudia Gray and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for this regency era page turner.

If you like Jane Austen and murder mysteries, this book is for you.

I personally haven’t read Jane Austen, and might’ve missed some of the references and interactions between the characters.

This book does make me want to read Jane Austen and reread it though.

The writing is good, the storyline is also good.

***3.5
This is a solidly fun whodunit mystery. Obviously, if you like Jane Austen you'll probably love the references, but even if you don't, I'd still recommend it to mystery lovers.

Thank you to Netgally and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage, for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

THE MURDER OF MR. WICKHAM by Claudia Gray is an Historical Mystery novel set in the world of Jane Austen. When I saw that Ms. Gray had written a novel that includes characters from Austen's books I couldn't resist requesting it. I was all in!

While there was much to like about this book, I almost didn't finish it because it lacked the pacing and tension I'm accustomed to in a mystery. That said, I thought the author did a phenomenal job with the portrayals of Austen's characters, the Regency, and in crafting her two original characters, Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy.

The story takes place at Donwell Abbey, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Knightly. They are hosting friends for a house party, a month of spending time together and enjoying each other's company. When Mr. Wickham shows up unexpectedly, he must spend several nights due to inclement weather. There are many in the party that have reason to hate Mr. Wickham. After he's found dead, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney take it upon themselves to investigate.

What worked well:
- character backstories and depictions were detailed and in character
- historical accuracy of the Regency period
- I adored Jonathan Darcy, and appreciated that the author included a neurodivergent character
- I also adored Juliet Tilney. Her willingness to speak out when it's not the norm for women at the time impressed me
- The relationship between Jonathan and Juliet deepened as the novel progressed, and the subtlety with which the author accomplished this was skillful

What didn't work for me:
- Too many points of view. I've read most of Austen's books and am familiar with the characters, but jumping into this many heads pulled me out of the story
- The pacing and tension suffered, perhaps due to the above bullet point
- I did not like where we left the budding romance

I really enjoy Ms. Gray's other books, and perhaps that's why I read this one expecting a similar style with a faster pace. That's on me. I would recommend THE MURDER OF MR. WICKHAM to fans of cozy mysteries who are really into Jane Austen's works and don't mind a slower paced novel.