“The Murder of Mr. Wickham” - Claudia Gray

⛈️ The year is 1820. Emma Wodehouse has been married 16 years to Mr. Knightley. They have lived in blissful happiness at Donwell Abbey, Mr. Knightley’s estate near the village of Highbury which we’ll all recall fondly from “Emma”. We open on Emma and George arguing as he has invited his college friend Darcy (yes, the very same) and his wife Elizabeth to stay with them. Elizabeth and Darcy have been married for 22 years. They have brought along their eldest son, Johnathan. As the rest of the house party fills out, we realize that Donwell Abbey is hosting all the main protagonists from the Austen-verse! 

Besides the two couples mentioned above, priggish Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram (“Mansfield Park”), Anne Wentworth (née Elliot) and Frederick Wentworth (“Persuasion”), Marianne Brandon (née Dashwood) and Colonel Brandon (“Sense and Sensibility”), and Juliette (the teenage daughter of the Tilneys of “Northanger Abbey”) make up what is intended to be a cozy house party. To Emma’s delight, all is moving along swimmingly other than Johnathan Darcy mildly irritating Juliette Tilney; he is neurodivergent and struggles to adapt to the copious strictures and etiquette of the era.

⛈️ Unexpectedly, the loathsome Mr. Wickham arrives uninvited to instantly wreck the party. Three of the couples - the Darcys, Knightleys, and Wentworths have some prior negative history with Wickham. As the title tells us, Mr. Wickham is murdered at Donwell Abbey. On the night of the murder, it seems every house guest who has motive, was also unaccountably out of their rooms. And just like that, we emerge from the Austenian world of manners and savvy social commentary, to the world of a cozy mystery at a rambling manor house complete with a dark and stormy night, a house full of guests guarding secrets of their own, and a dead body in the gallery.

⛈️ The official investigator of the murder (a Mr. Frank Churchill of Highbury) is convinced right away that the murderer must be one of the help, as he finds it inconceivable that a member of the aristocracy could be the culprit. Enter Johnathan and Juliette, who must keep from strangling one another in order to solve the mystery.

⛈️ Gray took on a monumental task of uniting the major players of the Austen-verse under literally one roof. It was fun to read how she took the existing character frameworks and wove connections and backstories for them that would explain their acquaintanceship with one another. I did feel that the conclusion wrapped up too neatly to be satisfying, but I think fans of Jane’s repertoire will enjoy this Austenian whodunnit.