{"id":4996,"date":"2023-05-16T04:52:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T11:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=4996"},"modified":"2023-05-16T04:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T11:52:18","slug":"claudia-gray-the-late-mrs-willoughby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/claudia-gray-the-late-mrs-willoughby\/","title":{"rendered":"Claudia Gray: The Late Mrs. Willoughby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #2<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fans of Jane Austen\u2019s Sense and Sensibility <\/em>will guess from the first the victim of Claudia Gray\u2019s latest murder mystery, The Late Mrs. Willoughby.<\/em> \u00a0As the second novel in Gray\u2019s Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney series, it’s pretty clear that Gray is working her way through Austen\u2019s unrepentant rakes – or at the very least their families. It opens with Lizzie and Darcy\u2019s son, Jonathan, being summoned to Willoughby\u2019s newly inherited house for a visit.<\/p>\n

Jonathan, a socially reluctant young man implied to be autistic, doesn\u2019t want to go. He never got along with Willoughby in school and can\u2019t imagine why he was invited at all. In addition, two of his other classmates, equally not his friends, will be there too. His parents encourage him to go, so he can get in some conversations with people his own age, but he likely would have found a way to leave soon if not for one reason – Juliet Tilney. Jonathan and Juliet met and solved a murder together in the previous instalment, and he\u2019s eager to see her again. Essentially his only true friend, Jonathan has not yet started to think of Juliet as something more, but she certainly is leaning that direction.<\/p>\n

Juliet is visiting real friends of hers, Colonel and Marianne Brandon. The emotionally charged events of the last book brought her and Marianne together, and Juliet intends to comfort Mrs. Brandon after this recent tragedy. Anyone not wishing to have the first book spoiled for them should definitely not pick this one up first – the killer\u2019s identity is a major plot point. Having read the first book provides some background information, too, that clears up details of the world that aren\u2019t clear until much later in this sequel.<\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s world is one where all the Austen heroines exist in the same universe. Juliet herself is the daughter of Northanger Abbey\u2019s protagonist, and the previous book brought together Fitzwilliam Darcy\u2019s nemesis and the cast of Emma. <\/em>There is certainly a way to enjoy this book without being an Austen-ophile, but it definitely helps! It does, however, stand on its own as a solid mystery. Jonathan and Juliet would be engaging heroes even without their famous parents – it just adds a little thrill, knowing where they came from.<\/p>\n

Overall, I\u2019d recommend picking up The Murder of Mr. Wickam <\/em>before this one to get the full experience. So many of the relationships and events from that first book are immediately relevant again in this one. The ending implies a third book in the series, which was a relief as saying goodbye to this cast is not easy to do. Then again, saying goodbye to Elinor and Marianne wasn\u2019t easy the first time, either. Gray brings them to life again with a pitch perfect Austen style and excellent characterization. If you spent any of your rainy days poring over Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, this is certainly the book for you. \u2013 Margaret Agnew<\/em><\/p>\n

********************<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Margaret Agnew is the Director of the\u00a0Cahokia Public Library<\/a>\u00a0in Cahokia, Illinois.\u00a0 A graduate of Ripon College and Indiana University, she has been a mystery fan and an avid reader from an early age.\u00a0 She was also a reviewer for Mystery Scene Magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #2 Fans of Jane Austen\u2019s Sense and Sensibility will guess from the first the victim of Claudia Gray\u2019s latest murder mystery, The Late Mrs. Willoughby. \u00a0As the second novel in Gray\u2019s Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney series, it’s pretty clear that Gray is working her way through Austen\u2019s unrepentant rakes … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1196,572,10,272,81,1197,1198,1195],"class_list":["post-4996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-claudia-gray","tag-english","tag-historical","tag-jane-austen","tag-margaret-agnew","tag-mr-darcy-miss-tilney","tag-the-late-mrs-willoughby","tag-vintage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5000,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4996\/revisions\/5000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}