There are few historical mystery series that I get immediately over-the-top excited for, but the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mystery series is one of them. Beginning with The Murder of Mr. Wickham in 2022, we have been graced with a new novel each year where the second generation of Austen’s families are further intertwined as an ill-fate befalls one of them. This is a creative and highly entertaining addition to the Austen universe, and I will always drop everything for a new installment. And this summer, we have the brilliant The Rushworth Family Plot by Claudia Gray!
A massive thank you to Austenprose PR and Penguin Random House for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Rushworth Family Plot, Claudia Gray
Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other perfectly; it’s a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, has led their parents to deem the pair unsuited to wed. Now, with the Season approaching, Juliet has been sent to London with a new wardrobe and orders to prove herself worthy of someone better than the snobby Darcys.
Meanwhile, Jonathan has been forced to accept an invitation to stay with old friends Edmund and Fanny Bertram at the house of Edmund’s brother, Sir Thomas. Oblivious to and undesiring of female attention other than Juliet’s, Jonathan is in danger of being ensnared by Caroline Bingley’s plans to make herself—or her daughter—mistress of Pemberley.
But when the former husband of Edmund’s sister Maria, Mr. Rushworth, is discovered dead, Jonathan and Juliet find themselves with problems far weightier than the marriage market.
In one of the greatest scandals of its day, Maria abandoned her husband for the notorious rake Henry Crawford and, when he wouldn’t marry her, was forced to flee to the continent in disgrace. Now Maria is back, with a daughter she claims Mr. Rushworth fathered after their divorce—and who he wrote into his will just before his death.
Now Jonathan and Juliet must unmask a killer before the drama surrounding the Rushworth family fortune claims another victim.
Why You Should Read This…
When I say that I savoured every single page of this book, that is not an understatement. I was constantly left guessing what would happen next with several surprises, and I didn’t want to stop reading. (However, I didn’t want it to end, so I was left in quite a literary quandary.)
This series tackles the “should we continue on Austen’s stories?” issue very well. Gray does not try to mimic Austen’s writing structure, tone, or general plot lines, and that is good- I find that that often invites the most criticism. She has taken this wider, extended universe but made it her own. Because we have shifted into murder mysteries, it’s already a different feeling than Austen’s works, but that is a good thing- we are getting a whole new flavour.
I won’t call them twists per se, but there are many major plot points that I did not see come and added to the layers of the story. They are all accurate within the period, so while they were surprising, they were not jarring. (And that tends to be a criticism of Austen-ish books- “X, Y, or Z wouldn’t have happened in the Regency period” isn’t a relevant critique here.) Gray strikes the balance well and keeps us entertained without pulling us out of the story.
My only major wish for the next book in the series is that we could head to Bath. Given that Juliet Tilney’s parents met in Bath and two of Austen’s novels are set in Bath, it seems more than fair to give us a Bath novel!
Is The Rushworth Family Plot by Claudia Gray on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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