Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D.James's contribution to Jane Austen sequels

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James will be available in the UK on November 3rd and in December in the U.S.

The author told The Associated Press during a telephone interview that the new book allows her to indulge two great passions: Austen and crime stories.

‘It has been a joy to revisit Pride and Prejudice and to discover, as one always does, new delights and fresh insights. I have to apologise to Jane Austen for involving her beloved Elizabeth in a murder investigation but this fusion of my two enthusiasms – for the novels of Jane Austen and for writing detective stories – has given me great pleasure which I hope will be shared by my readers.’

The plot starts out dramatically. Six years after Darcy and Elizabeth are married, they are still happy and have two sons. But then their lives are changed when Lydia Wickahm arrives in a careening wagon in the middle of the night shouting that her husband has been murdered.And so the mystery begins.

This book and the impending publication of a modern reworking of Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope indicates how popular Jane Austen and her novels still are.  That best-selling novelists are jumping on the Jane Austen sequel bandwagon indicates that there is still plenty of money to be made. Let's hope that both P.D.James and Joanna Trollope come up with better Jane Austen inspired novels than Colleen McCullough, whose excruciating  The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet wasn't worth the $1.00 I had to fork over to a used book store.