Death Comes to Pemberley

The novel opens with an affectionate summary of Pride and Prejudice and what has happened since. Elizabeth runs Pemberley with warmth and skill, the Darcys have two little sons, and Jane and Bingley live nearby. Wickham, Darcy's old enemy, has never been welcome at the house. Then, on a stormy October night before the ball given in memory of Darcy's mother, Lydia arrives in hysterics: she says that shots were heard in the woods after Wickham and his friend Captain Denny left the carriage.

Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam and others go out with lanterns and find Denny dead, with a distraught Wickham beside him. What follows is an investigation shaped by the law and manners of the time, with local magistrates, an inquest and finally a trial in London. Old secrets surface, from the history of the woodland cottage to the people who work on the estate, and Darcy must face hard questions about his family's past and his own pride. James, a master of crime fiction, writes in a style close to Austen's and includes playful nods to characters from her other novels.

Measured and elegant rather than fast. About 304 pages in paperback, adapted for television in 2013.