Darcy Mysteries book 2. Just loved it. ( )

magic mixes in mystery of Henry Dashwood taken over by spirit of his ancestor before he can marry Kitty Bennet

I kept giving this book new names, like "Nonsense and Suspense of Disbelief". For a Jane Austen pastiche, the swerve into supernatural horror is surprising. Why did Bebris not decide to write Wilkie Collins or Conan Doyle, one wonders. The Mirror of Narcissus, on which the plot hinges, is a bizarre cross between the Picture of Dorian Grey and the Mirror of Erised; not something that the eminently down-to-earth Austen would have used as a plot device. But the historical existence of Sir Francis Dashwood, of Hellfire Club fame, is too happy a coincidence and the author was struck by inspiration to bring this rakehell of a previous generation into contact with the much more well-mannered Regency era in which the Dashwoods of Norland and the Darcys of Pemberly flourished. Most of the author's anachronisms and Americanisms are found in the text rather than the dialogue, so it's not too horribly jarring. But the nonexistence of the "mystery" of the subtitle was annoying and frustrating. "A Mysterious Interlude with the Darcys" perhaps, but the book does not follow the kind of plot arc that one expects in the genre we label mystery. Nonetheless a fun read, a pleasant diversion, albeit not a book that will find a permanent place on my shelf. ( )

It wasn't a traditional mystery, touching more on the edges of a Gothic horror story- not Frankenstein, but I don't want to mention the one it reminds me of, for that is the fun part of trying to figure out a mystery from your chair, isn't it? ;] ( )

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy (of Pride and Prejudice fame) solve difficulties in this book that incorporates the characters of Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Like it's successor, North by Northanger, it's got some strange far-fetched aspects but I liked it. ( )