North by Northanger: Or, the Shades of Pemberley

While this book is the third in a series, it is the first I read. I found the Darcy couple believable, the plot intricate enough to satisfy, and the book enjoyable throughout. The series is heartily recommended for those Jane Austen fans who simply can't get enough.

There is not much that I want to say other than the book was great!!! I finished the book on the same day it arrived in the mail. This book gives a wonderful look at some characters that were only casually mentioned in P & P. It combines the characters of Northanger Abbey and P & P very well. If I say anymore I fear I will say too much. Try this book out for yourself. You will be glad you did.

This is the first mystery book I have ever enjoyed and finished. Lizzy and Darcy get conned by yet another idiot thirsty for their fortune. My favorite JA book is Northanger Abbey, so for me I loved the fact that I got another glimpse inside the creepy, disturbing manor. Lizzy gets to read all of Darcy's mom's old letters and even though Lady C. is there for most of the book, it held my attention until the end.

If you have enjoyed any of Carrie Bebris's previous Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries, you can't miss NORTH BY NORTHANGER, the most charming of the series so far. I have loved them all, but this one kept me up nights, reading about (and sympathizing with) Elizabeth's growing body and strange pregnancy symptoms but also about the odd circumstances attending their first visit to Northanger Abbey and the gradual uncovering of a mystery involving pre-Dissolution figurines of exceptional value. As usual, the characters are dimensional, interesting and consistent with their original Austen personalities -- but the fixes they find themselves in are pure Bebris creativity, as she has shown in her two previous entries, PRIDE & PRESCIENCE and SUSPENSE & SENSIBILITY. The characters in this one, borrowed from Austen's original NORTHANGER ABBEY, are interesting, dark, and gothic, which only makes the unraveling of the mystery even more exciting. I have already used 5 stars in my previous reviews of the books in the Darcy series; I guess this one should rate 6! I can't wait to read the next one and to enjoy losing sleep over what the Darcys are up to now.

With "North by Northanger," Carrie Bebris seems to have made the decision not to give the latest Mr. & Mrs. Darcy installment the same darkly gothicky, otherworldly tones that she had imbued her previous two novels with ("Pride and Prescience" & "Suspense and Sensibility"), opting instead to make "North by Northanger" more of a "straight" mystery with only the slightest hint of a ghostly presence. And did this decision affect the book in any way? To the contrary, the novel was another excellent read, being both enjoyable and absorbing. Elizabeth Darcy is happily anticipating the birth of her first child, and although she is finding it to be a bit of a strain trying to follow in her much admired mother-in-law's (Lady Anne Darcy) footsteps. So that when she finds a long lost letter from Lady Anne, the last thing Elizabeth expected was that the letter would herald a disastrous chain of events that would calumniate with Darcy being accused of theft. As Elizabeth and Darcy try to make sense of what has happened and to clear his name, Elizabeth also finds herself once again crossing swords with Darcy's difficult and arrogant aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, over a missing heirloom that Lady Anne held dear and which Lady Catherine is determined to claim for herself... I thoroughly enjoyed "North by Northanger" and found it to be an easy, absorbing and quick read. One of the things I liked about it is that of all the Jane Austen pastiches out there, this is one series that truly captures what I think the Darcys' married life and relationship would be like. So, thank you Carrie Bebris for fulfilling my expectations. "North by Northanger" was also enjoyable for the manner in which the author featured characters from both "Pride and Prejudice" and "Northanger Abbey" that remained much as Jane Austen had portrayed them. So that while the mystery was a rather strainght forward one and the villains and their motive easy to figure out (and one rather wonders why the intelligent Darcy doesn't realise what's going on earlier), such was the delightful manner in which this plot was unfolding, that I found myself eagerly reading on until the very end. Well written (the author has a nice prose style) and evenly paced, "North by Northanger" was a treat to read from beginning to end, and is a book I'd recommend highly to all Jane Austen fans.