OK mystery, but little feeling between characters

The intrigue part of this book is interesting enough, though partway through the story, It is not too difficult to work out who the perpetrators of the various crimes are.

The things I disliked though, were the total lack of romance between the relatively newlywed Darcys and the rigid formality of address between relations by marriage—an example of this is Jane calling Mr Darcy, 'sir'. Also, the narrator within the story never just speaks of, 'Darcy ', or 'Bingley', but always uses their titles, as well as the titles of the married females. It makes the story very stiff in my opinion. I know it was a very formal age, but I refuse to believe that sisters and brothers in-law, particularly when there is affection, cannot address each other by their Christian names.

Neither Lizzy nor Darcy exhibit any dejection over the fact that they will be separated for an unknown period of time and when they are eventually reunited, other than a kiss on the cheek, there is no passion. I am not suggesting anything licentious, but some indication of their love for each other would have been nice to see. Whilst writing a letter to Darcy, Lizzy ruminates about what a good and upright man her husband is and how much she respects and admires him, but not once does she actually think upon the fact that she loves him. I know the story is a mystery and not a love story, but by dint of the fact that the story centres around the relatively newly married Lizzy and Darcy, and Jane and Bingley, I do not see why a little understated romance could have been incorporated.

I found the narration to be a bit of a bugbear—For me, it is very disconcerting to listen to such a quintessentially English story narrated in an American accent. Erin Evans-Walker tries to sound a little British, but the only way she accomplishes this is by exaggerating the pronunciation of many names and words. Occasionally, she even sounds Irish, at least to my ear.

Overall, 3 stars.

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