The Murder of Mr. Wickham

By: Claudia Gray

Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Jane Austen's Mr. Wickham—one of literature’s most notorious villains—meets a sudden and suspicious end in this brilliantly imagined mystery featuring Austen’s leading literary characters.

“Had Jane Austen sat down to write a country house murder mystery, this is exactly the book she would have written.”—Alexander McCall Smith

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. In this tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

©2022 Claudia Gray (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

ONE OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S BEST MYSTERY BOOKS OF THE YEAR

“Had Jane Austen sat down to write a country house murder mystery, this is exactly the book she would have written. Devotees of Austen’s timeless novels will get the greatest possible pleasure from this wonderful book. Immense fun and beautifully observed. Delicious!”—Alexander McCall Smith

“A well-done pastiche that balances menace with wit, recrimination with reconciliation, sin with redemption and justice with mercy.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Satisfying.... Readers looking for a charming mystery will adore this book. Gray captures Austen’s tone perfectly, allowing fans to step back into the Regency author’s beloved world.”—BookPage

Good narrator, middle of the road story

The narrator, Billie Fulford-Brown, was quite nice to listen to.
The story, while containing one of my absolute favorite tropes (not a retelling, but putting known characters in new situations), I found forgettable.
The answer to the mystery I personally found unsatisfying.
All in all, this was fine, but forgettable, although I will check out the narrator's catalogue.

An interesting premise, but...

Some of the characterizations of the original Austen characters didn't quite ring true. And I wish the writing had been a little better. Still it was an amusing read.

Susan ….UES

Lots of proper fun for all the upper crust!Who did it??you will surely find out .

Totally enjoyable

Excellent Austen style story recreating the awful Mr Wickham and the Bennett sisters and Darcy family. Satisfying whodunnit also. Very credible performances. Too bad it had to end.

Good follow up to pride and prejudice

I like the fact that the writer utilized a lot of other characters from Jane Austin novels and it did justice to how the characters will behave . The only criticism is the length of the plot it lingers too long to get the culprit . Overall entertaining

Excellent

Well worth the credit. It was well written and truly enjoyed. Ties in with Austen’s other books

I was hoping for more

I love Jane Austen and was hoping to be pulled back into the world of her characters again. The story line was interesting but fell short for me. Putting so many characters into the same place at the same time had promise but became a little trite and did not flow smoothly. Alot of the connections seemed a bit forced and contrived and the plot got a little messy, a little too much going on to really feel believable. There was also an element in which too much modern thought and philosophy just ruined the timeline for me. It was an okay read but for me only okay. I would not really recommend the book to a friend but was not mad for reading it.

Cheesy but cute

It followed Jane’s original works, and I liked the way they were tied together. I wasn’t a fan of the ending…but it worked

excellent future of Austen characters

loved the combination of Austen and a murder mystery. writer was excellent at copying Austens style and narrator put it over the top

An ending much like Jane Austin books! Love the entwined story line. And all stones turned.

Came to an abrupt, wonderful, end, going to look for sequels…as I’m hoping to learn of spin off books…