Review: The Murder of Mr. Wickham

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I will read pretty much any Jane Austen related novel. (And, subsequently, will use a bastardized version of the opening line of Pride and Prejudice in my review.) I was delighted by the description of The Murder of Mr. Wickham and was really looking forward to Claudia Gray’s novel. A locked room murder mystery featuring characters from all of Austen’s novels in one book? Count me in! And, happily, I absolutely adored this book. It was too much fun!

Here's the book’s description:

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, 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. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

I will say that I think you need to have an understanding of all six of Austen’s major novels to fully enjoy Gray’s novel. I don’t think I would have loved it as much had I not recently reread (or read for the first time) Austen’s books. Of course, I do think you can read it even if, say, you’ve only ever read (or seen) Pride and Prejudice, but there’s an extra layer of enjoyment you can get if you know the full story behind each of the characters.

Related to knowing the characters – I really didn’t know who was going to the be culprit. As Juliet and Jonathan realize, the murderer had to have been one of the members of the house party which meant that one of Austen’s beloved characters had blood on their hands. It was a strange sensation! I had my suspicions of who may have done it, but Gray kept me guessing and I honestly could not have predicted the end. Which I consider a win for a mystery!

I appreciate that Gray used two of her own creations as main characters. Instead of centring the book on the perspective of one of Austen’s well-known characters, Gray chose to use the children of two characters to help propel the storyline. I had a lot of fun following along with Juliet and Jonathan as they pair tried to solve the murder to help their new friends and prevent the police from bungling the case or looking in the wrong direction.

I’ve focused a lot on the characters in this review because to say too much about the mystery itself could inadvertently spoil it for anyone who wishes to read this book. I don’t consider myself a mystery aficionado, but I do enjoy them, as I enjoyed this one. I couldn’t guess who the murderer would be, and I felt that Gray dropped clues in such a way that was smart and not heavy-handed. I’d be interested to know if avid mystery readers could have figured it out before Juliet and Jonathan!

I highly recommend The Murder of Mr. Wickham to anyone who enjoys Jane Austen and mystery novels. Claudia Gray did a wonderful job of respecting Austen’s characters while also putting her own spin on them. it made for a thoroughly enjoyable whodunit that kept me guessing until the very end. And, at the end, left me wanting more from all the characters. A mark of a great novel if you ask me!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*