Death Comes to Pemberley

By: P. D. James

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

A rare meeting of literary genius: P. D. James, long among the most admired mystery writers of our time, draws the characters of Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride and Prejudice into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem.

It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the chatelaine of the great house. They have two fine sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles. Elizabeth’s sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live nearby; her father visits often; there is optimistic talk about the prospects of marriage for Darcy’s sister Georgiana. And preparations are under way for their much-anticipated annual autumn ball.

Then, on the eve of the ball, the patrician idyll is shattered. A coach careens up the drive carrying Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who with her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been banned from Pemberley. She stumbles out of the carriage, hysterical, shrieking that Wickham has been murdered. With shocking suddenness, Pemberley is plunged into a frightening mystery.

Inspired by a lifelong passion for Austen, P. D. James masterfully re-creates the world of Pride and Prejudice, electrifying it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted crime story, as only she can write it.

©2011 P. D. James (P)2011 Random House Audio

Meh.

I really had to force myself to finish this. The premise was interesting enough, but the writing was rather ponderous, and the characters all felt like flat cardboard cut-outs of the Austen originals. The narration was not great, either; all the men sounded exactly the same and it was hard sometimes to tell who was speaking.

Not Recommended

What disappointed you about Death Comes to Pemberley?

This book was a disappointment as a mystery, a disappointment in the ill-use of Austen's characters, and an overall disappointment as a story. The characters were flat, the plot points were very slow, the drama elements weren't engaging, and there was really nothing a reader could have looked for as the sleuth to figure out the mystery, which I thought was the whole point of a mystery. I very much wish P.D. James had left Austen's characters alone.

Has Death Comes to Pemberley turned you off from other books in this genre?

I stay far, far away from Austen sequels. This book reinforced my stance. I only wish I'd reinforced it for myself instead of listening to this book. I can't wait to forget the whole thing.

Would you be willing to try another one of Rosalyn Landor’s performances?

Other reviewers give Landor very high marks and praised her performance. I thought her reading a little overly theatrical in an off-putting way. It's hard to describe. I guess she just didn't work for me. I listen and re-listen to Juliet Stevenson's readings of Austen's works (they're excellent) and she is my gold-standard. It's not fair to compare Landor to Stevenson, maybe, but unfortunately, it's hard to avoid the feeling that Stevenson gets it while Landor doesn't.

Any additional comments?

The real story is told all in backstory at the very end and involves peripheral characters. The main characters -- Austen's characters -- were stiff and flat and represented nothing of Austen's original vision. I don't feel P.D. James understood a single one of them. All instances of forcing Austen's phrasing made me roll my eyes.

There were two (long) instances of explanations about "what really happened", one from Colonel Fitzwilliam and the other from Wickham, and the phrasing and word choices each uses were oddly similar, as if the author didn't have a unique enough voice for each.

This is a little petty, but there were two sets of twins in the book, and I'm dubious about surviving twins being very common in the era. The Bingley twins were much too cutesy for my taste, though thankfully they are never on-screen. I had other questions about possible anachronisms and inaccuracies, such as whether a woman would use a privy (I thought only men used them while women did their thing indoors with chamber pots and water closets, though I could be wrong) and a suicide being buried in a churchyard... among other things.

I especially did not care for the semi-cameos from Persuasion and Emma (way too cute and completely beside the point), and I was infuriated by yet another long discussion in the epilogue about important things that happened in Pride & Prejudice. The epilogue was pure authorial indulgence and had nothing to do with the story. Austen herself tied up all those ends to my perfect satisfaction and I'm not at all happy P.D. James tried her own hand at a belabored re-muddling to give herself the opportunity for a fresh explanation.

Whenever characters in a historical-set story start talking about "dictated customs" and "approved conventions for social success" -- and it happens way too often -- it always feels like the modern author and never like the character in his or her own time.

Overall, I'm very sorry to have tried reading this book. I hear the miniseries is much better. Can't wait to watch it.

Could not get past Chapter 2

I was hopeful I would like this story and the audio. Sadly not the case. Since I have listened to P&P so many times, I hoped this would be a good alternative to keep my husband from sighing and asking, “Again?!?” The story isn’t great— the prologue and first chapters are plodding and not helped by the narration. The voices come across as arrogant and snooty, especially the males so far. I may come back to it later but have to put it aside for now.

My Hopes Dashed

I have always liked PD James' mysteries, and love Jane Austen, so I had high hopes for this combination of author and characters. Unfortunately, this book is just silly. The ponderous narration doesn't help a weak story and minor mystery. The original characters are not much amplified except what would be easily predicted. The many extractions of Austen's glowing phrases for those unfortunates who have not read Pride and Prejudice are not enough to rescue this book.

Not Good

I didn't finish listening to Death Comes to Pemberley. I haven't read any other PD James, so I don't know if this is an example of her normal work, but if it is then I'm not inclined to read any more.

This book is tedious to listen to, a good narrator notwithstanding. I have no quibbles with the narrator - I actually like her a lot from listening to Charles Todd's Bess Crawford novels that she narrates.

I felt that this story was not well written, meandering, rambling, and boring. I wanted to like it since I love the source material (Austen's P&P). I got more than halfway before I quit - I just couldn't take one more minute of it. Ugh.

seriously lacking female character development.

This didn't live up to my expectations in the TV show, but I decided to try the book anyway and was even more disappointed. No overlapping intrigues, pretension to being a crime procedural, but only for a chapter. All of the interesting story was revealed at once in the last few chapters. Not worth it as a period piece and CERTAINLY NOT ENOUGH as a mystery.

What went wrong?

What disappointed you about Death Comes to Pemberley?

I love P.D. James, and I love Jane Austen, but somehow this turned out to be one of the most boring mysteries I've ever heard/ read in my life. The language was very contrived, in keeping with the voice of Jane Austen. It was correct and interesting for a short while, but became really insipid and long-winded. And there wasn't much of a mystery-- very, very anticlimactic.

Would you ever listen to anything by P. D. James again?

Definitely. This is the first book of hers that I haven't enjoyed.

Have you listened to any of Rosalyn Landor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The performance was great.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Death Comes to Pemberley?

The long letters, the long court scene.. I didn't like the atmosphere much, so it's hard to think of scenes I really enjoyed.

Any additional comments?

Wonderfully written, of course. For myself, it was a problem of not liking the story. I'm sure I will read P.D. James again, but I think this killed Jane Austen for me for a long time!

Not her best

I LOVE P.D. James' Adam Dalgleish stories. I have read and reread them all. I am also a Jane Austen fan. This, however, does credit to neither the author nor to Austen's characters. Boring is the nicest thing I can say about this. Stick to James' Dalgleish novels which are amazing and to the real Jane Austen stories, which are, of course, classic!

Unfortunate.

I have been a fan of P.D. James for years, and even enjoyed her stories on the PBS series, "Mystery." I have also been a Jane Austen fan forever, taking a summer to re-read her novels every three or four years. One would think P.D. James carrying on the story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy would be a riveting tale of murder combined with a heartwarming romance.

Not so much.

At best this story is contrived. The characters are all there, but many of them are not behaving like their old selves. Elizabeth is a side note. Mr. Darcy has lost his strength of character. The investigation is plodding with no clues revealed to the reader. When all is finally revealed at the end of the story, there is no way that even the most dedicated reader of murder mysteries could have figured it out, which is no fun at all.

The narrator, Rosalyn Landor, is easy to listen to, and does a good job with characterizations. Unfortunately, with this particular novel, she didn't have much to work with.

I have to agree with other reviewers: save your credits.

Alas!

What a wonderful idea -- mix Jane Austen and P.D. James. Two great dames, right? Unfortunately, the result is unimpressive. James is so careful not to disrespect Austen that she creates a so-so imitation of Austen and an unexciting mystery as well. I was disappointed. This could have been so much fun, but it's not.