Murder in Highbury

For a woman who published only four novels during her lifetime, with two others appearing shortly after her death and several incomplete or shorter works released into print much later, Jane Austen has had an astonishing and enduring legacy. Personally, I’m of the school that believes Austen should be left in peace to rest on her laurels, but it’s obvious that publishing houses and movie studios feel otherwise. And once in a while, I agree with them. Vanessa Kelly’s foray away from historical romance and into a murder mystery series based on Austen’s “Emma” is one such example.

As happens in the best of these adaptations, Kelly’s Emma Woodhouse—now Emma Knightley—shares basic personality traits with her original conception but is not constrained by them. Stumbling into an impossible-to-predict encounter with a dead body in the chancel of the local church, Emma keeps her head even as her companion, Harriet Martin, seems ready to faint at the horrible sight. Emma confirms the victim’s death, settles her friend down, then sends her off to find the local doctor/coroner and George Knightly, Emma’s husband and the magistrate for Highbury. Emma herself waits behind in the church in case the vicar should pop in and discover his wife lying on the floor with bruises around her neck and her head bashed in. Hearing a noise, she goes to investigate (chiding herself for impetuousness), and even before her husband arrives, she has discovered evidence of murder.

But whodunnit? The residents of Highbury, not to mention the victim and her relatives, display the usual array of problems, lies, misdirections, and motives. The whole is handled with a light touch and a regard for Regency language and deportment, as well as for Austen’s original, that makes it a delightful read.

I look forward to interviewing the author for the New Books Network (link below) in October 2024.