4.5/5⭐️

I’ve always been a sucker for books that imagine a sequel to the lives of classic characters. I’ve always felt it must be very hard for an author to stay true to a previous author’s work while also having their own say, especially as devoted readers will have their own deep-seated opinions. And what a fun and ambitious undertaking with multiple characters from the world of Jane Austen.

This historical mystery centers around the forced proximity of the “house party” and is set at the Donwell Abbey home of Mr. and Mrs. Knightley in 1820. The guests include Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, 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.

Gray does a wonderful job of seamlessly weaving these characters’ lives together while staying true in their personalities/backstories to their original authoress. There’s humor, lots of motives and even some flirtations along the way as the mystery of Mr. Wickham’s demise unfolds.

I loved it! My only caveat would be that there were some slow spots, but then again, any excuse to savor a re-visit with these beloved characters makes any lulls in the story worth it. And let’s face it, house parties of that time were not generally known to be fast-paced entertainments.

Recommended, especially of course for Austen fans.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Vintage Books/Random House for providing the free early arc of The Murder of Mr. Wickham for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Had Jane Austen ever turned her hand to greater murder mysteries than the quasi-Gothic plot that nearly ruined Catherine Morland’s relationship with Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey, then I daresay she’d be both impressed and extremely pleased with what Claudia Gray has done here in homage to her completed novels.

Ms Gray deftly assembles beloved characters from each of Ms Austen’s six best known works, placing them in a believable timeline such that they could all be guests of a long-married Emma and George Knightley at a Donwell Abbey house party. These guests include Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, along with their adult son Jonathan; Anne and Captain Frederick Wentworth, home now from his accomplished career at sea; Fanny and Edmund Bertram, who’ve settled well into his curacy; newlyweds Marianne and Colonel Christopher Brandon, and the inquisitive young Juliet Tilney, sent by her parents to see the wider world (and, if famed meddler Emma has anything to say about it, as a prospective match to the eligible young Jonathan.) Emma is the consummate hostess, doing her best to put everyone at ease and making quite a good showing of it… till that awful George Wickham shows up unannounced and uninvited one evening and begins to terrorize the assembled guests.

Wickham has certainly been busy since being forced to marry Elizabeth’s younger sister some decades past, and has taken full advantage of the turmoil at the end of the Napoleonic Wars to enrich himself, often at the expense of others:

QUOTE
Napoleon had never mustered up the force, or at least the opportunity, to invade England. The thousands of young men who had joined the militias meant to protect against such an invasion had worn uniforms, drilled, been admired, and otherwise little inconvenienced. Some of these men simply felt grateful the invasion had never come. Others–less aware of the horrors of war, and more hungry for distinction–deeply regretted the peace.

Most regretful of all were the avaricious. There were prizes to be won in wartime that would otherwise be out of reach of the average man with his fortune to make.

But fortunes could always be made, if you had the will. George Wickham had learned that.
END QUOTE

Using honeyed words and sharp dealings, Wickham has managed to persuade away the money of many, including Captain Wentworth as well as Knightley’s brother James. Both Captain Wentworth and Knightley are infuriated to see him arrive, as are the Darcys and Colonel Brandon, for far more personal reasons. Propriety, however, will not let them turn him out into the rain, more out of concern for his horse than for Wickham himself.

The latter quickly does as much as he can to set the rest of the party against him, too. Soon, everyone is wishing him gone… but only one person will go so far as to see him dead.

Local magistrate Frank Churchill is convinced that the murder must have been commited by a vagrant or a servant. Neither Juliet nor Jonathan are happy with this explanation, as all the evidence that they can see points to the culprit being a member of the house party. As the only two people with the combination of lack of opportunity and lack of motive – as well as sharing both a lively intelligence and an abhorrence for the idea that an innocent servant could hang for the crime – Juliet and Jonathan soon team up to investigate. In addition to the usual obstacles faced by amateur sleuths, however, they quickly find themselves stymied by the manners of the day, not least when it comes to privately communicating what they learn to one another. Juliet is baffled as to how to pass him a letter containing her suspicions, and wonders whether she even should:

QUOTE
No respectable young woman would ever write to an unmarried man unless they were engaged. To presume as much after meeting the younger Mr. Darcy only three days ago! Everyone else present would be shocked.

Perhaps she ought to be shocked herself. The most correct course of action would be for her to destroy this letter and pretend no such conversation had ever taken place between her and Jonathan Darcy. Certainly their current endeavor could not be described as proper.
END QUOTE

Will Juliet and Jonathan be able to overcome the strict social code of the times in order to bring a murderer to justice? And will we readers want them to when the truth is finally revealed?

Ms Grey’s ability to extrapolate not only the relationships of these storied couples and their offspring, as well as to fold in matters of more modern concern – whether it be sleuthing, sex or neurodivergency – makes for an astonishingly convincing, tremendously entertaining pastiche. Most importantly, all her conclusions make sense given what we already know of the characters. Written elegantly, with a keen eye for Regency detail as well as a deep knowledge and affection for Ms Austen’s oeuvre, this is an entirely plausible continuation of the Austen canon that stands as a worthwhile read in its own right.

I was immediately intrigued by this book for several reasons:
*Fantastic title and cover
*Intriguing description of a murder mystery set in Jane Austen's England
*All the Jane Austen connections from characters to locations!

I absolutely loved having so many favorite Austen characters all under one roof. As a longtime Austen fan, I loved the chance to see what could happen if her characters met. What a delight to read about Elizabeth Darcy talking to Emma Knightley. Or Colonel Brandon and Captain Wentworth sharing a moment of military understanding. Or seeing how Mr Knightley and Mr Darcy both care for their younger siblings. Or how Fanny and Edmund Bertrum would interact with people quite different from themselves. Or the next generation of Austen inspired characters in Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney. I loved all the connections to the original stories and how the characters have progressed since their novels' ends. It was fun to see favorite Highbury characters like Miss Bates and even Frank Churchill. I felt that the essence of Austen's characters is very well maintained from Fanny Bertram's timidity to Anne Wentworth's observation to George Wickham's wickedness. While it's difficult to fully develop story arcs for all these characters, our author allows us glimpses into the lives and minds of some of Austen's most memorable characters.

The author transitions seamlessly between voices, and I enjoyed getting inside everyone's heads. I love books with multiple perspectives and this one does it so well! It's illuminating to read what Mr Darcy is thinking or Edmund Bertram's inner struggle or Marianne Brandon's personal dialogue. I felt the omniscient narrator was able to build well on the already established characters while giving new, dynamic characters as well. Watching Jonathan and Juliet work together to solve the mystery and understand each other was so engaging. I felt that I was alongside them looking for clues, seeking to  understand other people, and gaining wisdom and clarity. 

Throughout the novel, thrilling action leads us along the trail of suspects to a surprising climax. I do not read many murder mysteries. But I can certainly see the appeal after devouring this story. I couldn't turn pages fast enough as I followed the clues with our two young detectives trying to find the killer. There was a nice balance between the murder mystery and classic Jane Austen style. We learn about the quarrels, hardships, grief, pain, joy, and hopes of so many of these characters. Overall, those personal developments fit well into Austen's world. Only a few times did I feel like their problems burst the Regency bubble that Gray created (a few details felt more modern than Regency). The story got a bit slow for me in the middle, but the climax of the story was satisfying and surprising. I had worried that a favorite Austen character would be made out as a criminal as bad as Wickham himself. However, the killer and revelation of the murder were both revealed with poise. I finished the novel feeling delighted and content.

I really enjoyed getting lost in Gray's version of Austen's world. The characters are fantastic and feel like they just stepped off the page of Austen's novels. The action and mystery were exciting and surprising. An enjoyable delight for all Austen fans!

So enjoyed this book! I love how she brought so many of Jane Austen's characters into the story and connected them although because there were a few I was unfamiliar with, it was a little confusing at first to have so many characters. Stay with the story, it's worth it. I was never really sure whodunnit and liked the resolution (which of course made sense).

The Murder of Mr. Wickham is a delightful new murder mystery that will appeal to both Janeites and Agatha Christie fans.

Claudia Gray brings an inventive approach to this cozy and romantic Austen sequel/continuation. Plus, loads of imagination.

Gray takes up Austen’s pen and asks a couple of what-if questions. What would happen if many of Austen’s beloved characters knew each other and had a house party? And what if one of the guests murders the villainous Mr. Wickham?

Well, I found the book to be a resounding success. It’s such fun to read, and I enjoyed Gray’s interpretation of Austen’s characters – even if it didn’t quite match my own. But that’s to be expected!

Anyway, it’s an enjoyable read I wholeheartedly recommend.

Adaptation Recommendation: A limited series would work best for this to give it a binge effect and time to explore the characters. And it would be such a fun watch!

Content Note: PG-like for a murder. Trigger warning – a mild description of assault.

Overall Rating: 4.5 stars (rounded up for GoodReads.)
Romance Rating: 4 hearts

Disclosure: I received a free copy from the publisher and Austenprose via Netgalley. All opinions in the book review are my own.

(Note: We shared an excerpt of the book at silverpetticoatreview.com for more information on the book.)

This one is for Jane Austen fans- especially those who know ALL the characters from ALL the novels. A house party thrown by the Knightlys starts things off, introducing the various couples years on from where we left them in Austen's novels. Then Mr. Wickham, one of the most despised characters in literature, is murdered and we're off. Gray wisely uses the next generation to solve the crime. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I haven't read Austen for years and I know I didn't appreciate this as much as mega fans will. That said, it's a fun read with an interesting conceit.

*Received a copy for review.*
This was such a fun idea. There are few characters who deserve a comeuppance more than Wickam. However, these characters didn’t feel like the ones I have known.

Oof, I SO wanted to love this one but I didn’t. I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, and the first few chapters made me giddy to see all the beloved characters that were I clouded. Darcy and Elizabeth and their SON? Yes please! The villain Mr. Wickham crashing a dinner party? Yes!

Then it just…was so slow to go anywhere. The beginning feels like there is no real main character. The third person narrator switches from character to character and the dinner party is just boring! I spent so long waiting for the murder to even happen, much less see who did it.

I had high expectations but was super disappointed. I would pass on this one, though if you’re a big Austen fan you might find it cool to see the characters like I did.. If you’re not an Austen fan, definitely pass.

Put Jane Austen's characters together with a cozy mystery writer and you have Claudia Gray and an excellent book!
The Knightleys have planned a month-long house party and you might recognize some of the guests. The Darcys, the Brandons, the Prices, the Wentworths, along with 2 young adults, Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy.
Even if you have never read Austen's books, this is such a well-developed cozy with so many suspects. Before the first dinner is done, a very unwelcome and uninvited guest, George Wickham arrives. He has made an enemy of nearly everyone at the table, and he has not come to make amends.
He manages to upset everyone in the house even more than they already are, and that is saying a lot. A fierce storm means that decency demands that they let him stay, and this house isn't big enough to avoid him for long. With so many well-bred and refined guests, it is quite shocking that most of them wish he was dead. But when Juliet finds his body, the question, of which of you did it, is left to her and Jonathan to discover the truth. Was it a servant, an unknown trespasser, or was one of the guests willing to risk their freedom for his demise?
The writing is prim and proper as you would expect and Jonathan is especially confounded when the rules of the society he knows are cast asunder. I thought it lost a little steam towards the middle, and while the identity of the murderer did not surprise me, how it ended did.

At a houseparty hosting Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, Emma and Mr. Knightly, Marianne and Col. Brandon, Anne and Cpt. Wentworth, Fanny and Mr. Bertram, and their various children, who should appear but the dastardly Mr. Wickham?

The Murder of Mr. Wickham plumbs five of Jane Austen's novels (the characters from Northanger Abby send their teen daughter but did not come themselves), then accuses them of murder!

It was great catching up with these characters again, and clever how unrelated people from different books end up all knowing each other. However, these couples who we left happy are now having marital difficulties, money trouble, and anger issues. It's quite melancholic to read that Elizabeth, Emma, and Marianne are all quietly miserable.

The Murder of Mr. Wickham is a fun closed-circle mystery with characters we know and love, however, the fact that we know them already means that we don't want anyone to be the murderer.

Thanks to Vintage and NetGalley for providing this e-book for review.

The Murder of Mr. Wickham starts off with an interesting premise. All of Jane Austen's main characters meet up for a stay at Mr. Knightly's estate, only for Mr. Wickham to turn up murdered. The story got off to a slow start as we catch up with all of the characters after the events of their novels. All of them have some connection to the devious Mr. Wickham and have a motive for murdering him. The author uses a lot of Austen's language, which I found clunky at times. I also struggled to keep all the characters straight and their relationship with Mr. Wickham. The mystery itself was unsatisfactory and the story seemed like a plot device to bring all of Austen's characters together. I liked the two main characters who were investigating the murder, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney. The author did a great job with their character development and making the reader root for them! If you're a fan of Austen, this will be an interesting take, but lacks a good murder mystery for the mystery fans out there.

This was fun, appropriately paced, and kept me intrigued. I will be honest, in that I haven't read the Jane Austen books, but now I want to! I also felt it was easy to understand without reading those books first. Fun book!

This was an excellent mystery! This book had wonderful interpretations of many of Jane Austen's characters, plus introductions to delightful new ones! Whether you love Jane Austen's novels, or love a good mystery, or both, I would definitely recommend checking this book out!

I received a copy of this book from the blog tour company and publisher.

Definitely got into the book. Wondering who did it. Mystery in a locked room you wondered who actually offed Mr. WIchham a good mystery.

This book was quick and cute!
Would have enjoyed more if I was more knowledgeable on Jane Austin's characters, but enough was explained on page and wikipedia was helpful

The Murder of Mr. Wickham was an unique murder mystery based on all the characters from Jane Austen books. It's definitely for fans of Jane Austen and yes, Mr. Darcy is there in the book. It was set in the 1820's in the Regency period. The characters from the book were from 5 Jane Austen books- Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and Sense & Sensibility.

I'm only familiar with Pride and Prejudice and Emma, so I probably missed out on a few references here and there. But the book was still thoroughly entertaining and interesting. It was written like a classic and the language used was very formal. It took a long while to read this and I'm a very fast reader. The reason for that is because of the writing style, but that's only normal for this genre. The book was written very well and the characters were imbibed into the book spectacularly.

All the characters in the book met in Donwell Abbey for a house party hosted by Mr. Knightley and Emma. An unexpected guest arrives in the form of Mr. Wickham, yes the same evil man from Pride and Prejudice. Everyone seems to have been swindled or hurt by him in one way or the other. Suddenly, he turns up dead and is found Ms. Juliet Tinley and Mr. Jonathan Darcy. He is the eldest son of Mr. Darcy, heir to the Pemberly Estate. They both band together to solve this mystery.

The whodunit aspect of the book was fun. It was slow paced but entertaining. It is definitely aimed at fans fo Agatha Christie and Jane Austen. I would recommend it murder mystery lovers.

Emma & Mr Knightley are throwing a party at their country estate and couples from all of the other Jane Austen novels are invited, along with a few others. Unfortunately, there is one gatecrasher......Mr Wickham, and he is most unwelcome. It soon becomes clear that Wickham has come to collect on debts from bad investments from several of the partygoers, and those that he did not know previously, he is discovered snooping in their rooms, trying to find something with which to blackmail them. It should come as no surprise to anyone, therefore, when Mr Wickham is murdered. Because nearly every houseguest has a motive, and this is more fun than either of them has had in ages, Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, team up to try to solve the crime.
This is the perfect mash-up of Jane Austen novels and good old fashioned Agatha Christie-style mystery novels. Everything about this book was a delight. The characters were charming, and it was fun to see which novels they belonged to. It had an excellent mystery. oh, and it is set up for there to be a sequel. I can't wait! I loved the witty banter, and the dialogue is much easier to read ( does not put me to sleep) like the original Austen stories. I think I have read most of the re-telling of the Austen novels, but every time I have tried to read or listen to the original I fall asleep because of the dialogue. The dialogue in this made me think more Downton Abbey, so it was a much lighter read. I can not say enough good things about this book. I highly recommend this one!

I love mysteries and I love Jane Austen, so The Murder of Mr. Wickham is exactly my kind of book! I love how Gray connected all these beloved characters to create a really interesting and well detailed mystery! I thought she did a great job of keeping the spirit of the characters that we know and love, while making changes that made sense with the story that she's telling.

The new characters that we meet, Jonathan Darcy (Elizabeth and Darcy's eldest son) and Juliet Tilney (the daughter of Catherine and Henry Tilney) where very well written, and interesting. I really liked them and I loved how they worked as a team to solve the mystery of who murdered Wickham.

There were a few things that I did not love, mostly as they were very "of the times" when it came to character's views on women's rights (mostly what is and isn't appropriate for women to do) and homosexuality. Did these characters views make sense within the time period? Yes, it was a different time and views have definitely changed, so while I understand why these characters felt this way, I didn't necessarily love it. However, neither of those things had any barring on my enjoyment of the story!

Overall, this was a really good mystery and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

There's something inherently slimy about Mr. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice that makes him very conducive to murder mysteries: in P.D. James's Death Comes to Pemberley he's the accused murderer, whereas in Claudia's Gray's The Murder of Mr. Wickham he's the victim!

Emma and Mr. Knightley from Emma invite characters from all of Jane Austen's other novels to their home (although in the case of Juliet Tilney, she is an OC, the daughter of Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland from Northanger Abbey). Mr. Wickham arrives, bad weather forces him to stay at Donwell Abbey, and then a few days later he's dead. Everyone has different reasons to detest Wickham, so it's up to Juliet and the Darcys's eldest son to uncover who killed him and how.

I found the story a solid read, and enjoyed catching up with the characters from Austen's novels. (Although I very much missed seeing Henry and Catherine.)

It wasn't as fun as I expected, as all of the couples are dealing with relationship issues, but that added a fair bit of drama to the story--and their relationships were fortunately healthier by the end. I also worried that the conclusion of the murder mystery would bear dire consequences for one of the characters, and that all the red herrings would lead to a complicated conclusion. While I did not guess the culprit, I thought the explanation made sense.

However, I thought the pacing of the middle could have been tighter, as we had some chapters where Juliet and Jonathan Darcy didn't uncover much. Gray does not aim for an exact copy of Austen's prose, but there were some iffy anachronistic bits. (This is not Stephanie Barron-levels of historical accuracy.)

Finally, on a nitpicky note, I understand why Gray chose to place the novels at very specific times, but Sense and Sensibility makes no sense in 1819! It should be the early 1790s!!!


In short: an enjoyable murder mystery, but less of a romp than I expected

A murder mystery where the main characters - and suspects - are the characters from Jane Austen novels! Claudia Gray has taken roughly when the characters were alive (based on when written) from the books and combined them into an interesting Regency murder mystery. These characters are invited to a house party hosted by the Knightleys. In attendance are characters like Elizabeth Bennett Darcy and her husband, now middle-aged with children of their own (including their son Jonathan who is attending the party as well), Edmund Bertram and Fanny Price Bertram, and young Juliet Tilney (daughter of the characters from Northanger Abbey). The victim? George Wickham of course. He has wronged many in this group and ends up murdered. Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney team up to try to solve the murder to prevent a servant or traveler from being wrongly accused.

This was an interesting book! I liked seeing all of these characters together. The hardest part is probably the writing - just because its written more in the style of the 1800s authors.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.