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lauriestein's review against another edition
2.0
Of course I had to read this in the interest of my comprehensive quest to read all Austen paraliterature. I liked it less than the first three Bebris mysteries. I think this is largely because the plot focused on the resuscitation of Anne de Bourgh, a device that bothers me. Why can't authors leave her alone in her quiet sickly crossness? And why does said resuscitation always have to come at the hands of (spoiler? wait no one else cares) Colonel Fitzwilliam? This would've been way better if Anne herself had been murdered and Lady Catherine had married the evil lord. Or if Fanny Price had been the murderess. Oh well.
lifeand100books's review against another edition
3.0
The Matters at Mansfield is the fourth installment in the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery series, written by Carrie Bebris. The Matters at Mansfield take the characters from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and embroils them into a scandalous murder mystery that must be solved by Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. (For those who know black and white films and know what The Thin Man series is, the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy characters are exactly like Nick and Nora)
This book takes the Darcy's to Riverton house for an engagement party for their cousin Roger Fitzwilliam. They wish to be back at Pemberley enjoying the peace and quiet with their new daughter. While at Riverton they discover that Lady Catherine de Bourgh is planning a well to do marriage for Anne and that Anne is completely unaware of the plan. While everyone is at a ball one evening, Anne makes her escape. A note is found from Anne telling Elizabeth that she has left with Mr. Henry Crawford and they are going to Gretna Green to be married.
You can continue reading my review here: http://lifeand100books.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/72-a-review-of-the-matters-at-mansfield-by-carrie-bebris/
This book takes the Darcy's to Riverton house for an engagement party for their cousin Roger Fitzwilliam. They wish to be back at Pemberley enjoying the peace and quiet with their new daughter. While at Riverton they discover that Lady Catherine de Bourgh is planning a well to do marriage for Anne and that Anne is completely unaware of the plan. While everyone is at a ball one evening, Anne makes her escape. A note is found from Anne telling Elizabeth that she has left with Mr. Henry Crawford and they are going to Gretna Green to be married.
You can continue reading my review here: http://lifeand100books.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/72-a-review-of-the-matters-at-mansfield-by-carrie-bebris/
apow1071's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
imyerhero's review against another edition
4.0
This is the fourth in Carrie Bebris’s Mr. and Mrs. Darcy series – a take off of the Austen classic after it ends, with a Nick and Nora flavor to it. This time, Darcy’s cousin Anne (of Lady Catherine) has shocked and astonished them all by eloping to Gretna Green with a man she has just met, the very night her mother has arranged a very advantageous marriage for her. Now, Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam are pursuing her and her mysterious fiance to Scotland while Elizabeth is stuck with Lady Catherine and her indignation. When the entire party is reunited, they’re in for a shock. Not only by who Anne has married but his past. Struggling through cases of mixed identities, adulterous affairs, duels, and dead men walking, will Anne finally find love? And will Lady Catherine let her?
I am an avid fan of Austen spin-offs (in case you haven’t perused my book review list) and Carrie Bebris’s works are some of my favorites. They don’t slip down the tawdry path or modernizing the romantic and physical aspects of Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship, but instead takes the world of Austen and transforms it into an engaging mystery series. She manages to build a good enough bridge into the other works of Austen and insert the Darcys and other P&P characters right in. And on top of this, she writes a durn good mystery. I’m not a huge mystery buff and I enjoy these not only for the familiar characters but for the mystery. There’s just the merest hint of the supernatural, and while there are usually enough clues throughout to allow you to figure out the culprit(s) long before the end, you enjoy the literary journey so much that you don’t really mind.
It’s been at least a year or two since I’ve read the last novel in this series, so I’m not super confident in comparing it to the others which precede it. However, I do know that I enjoyed this book immensely, especially as it utilized one of my favorite roguish characters from the Austenverse – Mr. Crawford. It also fills in the characters of both Anne and Colonel Fitzwilliam in a highly satisfactory manner and abuses Lady Catherine even more satisfactorily (who doesn’t want Lady Catherine to get her come-uppance?)
I am an avid fan of Austen spin-offs (in case you haven’t perused my book review list) and Carrie Bebris’s works are some of my favorites. They don’t slip down the tawdry path or modernizing the romantic and physical aspects of Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship, but instead takes the world of Austen and transforms it into an engaging mystery series. She manages to build a good enough bridge into the other works of Austen and insert the Darcys and other P&P characters right in. And on top of this, she writes a durn good mystery. I’m not a huge mystery buff and I enjoy these not only for the familiar characters but for the mystery. There’s just the merest hint of the supernatural, and while there are usually enough clues throughout to allow you to figure out the culprit(s) long before the end, you enjoy the literary journey so much that you don’t really mind.
It’s been at least a year or two since I’ve read the last novel in this series, so I’m not super confident in comparing it to the others which precede it. However, I do know that I enjoyed this book immensely, especially as it utilized one of my favorite roguish characters from the Austenverse – Mr. Crawford. It also fills in the characters of both Anne and Colonel Fitzwilliam in a highly satisfactory manner and abuses Lady Catherine even more satisfactorily (who doesn’t want Lady Catherine to get her come-uppance?)
fae_noir's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
THIS was what I've been waiting for this whole series. A roller coaster ride of twists and turns and our beloved Darcy and Elizabeth at the center of it. Anne de Burgh and Col. Fitzwilliam were a delight, and I haven't cancelled all plans because I just *had* to know what came next in a book in a long while! It wasn't perfect, but it's been my surprise favorite of the series.
I love the premise of Carrie Bebris' series- follow Darcy and Elizabeth through the milestones of their married life, and solve some mysteries along the way! Sadly, that premise has only been so-so in execution for the first couple of books. The supernatural themes of Pride and Prescience, and Suspense and Sensibility, made me feel like the author wasn't sure what series she wanted to write. It needed to be either "The Supernatural Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy", or a good old classic who-dunnit. Not "the supernatural *might* be real" (book 1), then "Oh the supernatural is very real" (book 2), then "there's some eerie things but they can be explained away" (book 3). I read the author's notes explaining where her approach to each of the stories came from, and I appreciate her inspiration (especially for Suspense and Sensibility), but even so, it's just discordant bordering on false advertising to say that this series is a Regency "Nick and Nora" (from Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man") and then make the first half of the series supernatural. I've read and enjoyed supernatural Sherlock Holmes pastiches (currently enjoying the HP Lovecraft crosssover series by James Lovegrove), but I went into those knowing that this was the genre I was signing on for.
North by Northanger was previously my favorite Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery, because I loved the way it incorporated Mr. Tilney into the story, and because I was okay with the suggestion of the supernatural, in keeping with Northanger Abbey being Jane Austen's answer to the Gothic fiction of her day. But The Matters at Mansfield absolutely eclipsed it! Nothing supernatural, just Henry Crawford creating mess after mess with his many lies, multiple dead bodies and missing evidence, and Anne de Burgh finally defying her mother's tyranny to be a delightful character in her own right.
I only have a few complaints, and here they are:
1. Lack of involvement from the characters of Mansfield Park. We barely see Edmund Bertram, and never Fanny Price. Mostly it's the location of Mansfield Park, Edmund's father Sir Thomas, and Mr. Crawford who give the story its tie-in with the Mansfield Park novel. There's also some scenes with the Rushworths, Edmund's disgraced sister Maria, and Mrs. Norris. I wish Edmund would have played a bigger role, and that we could have seen Fanny!
2. Meg's character fell flat for me when she's first introduced, and it only gets worse from there. The character Meg I think was designed to be a bit of a modern heroine mixed with some comedic relief, maybe? Doesn't matter, because she lost me with her treatment of Lady Catherine, and the sloppy portrayal of a lower class individual encountering the upper classes.
First off, Lady Catherine is an arrogant, egotistical, class-obsessed bully. Everyone knows that, and nobody approves of it, not even Austen's own characters. (We won't count Mr. Collins.) HOWEVER, one of the best scenes in Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth standing up to Lady Catherine, because she doesn't have to act like an asshole to succeed. She states her truth, is polite and firm, never loses her temper even when stating that Lady Catherine has insulted her, and never resorts to insults and belittling. She simply says 'no' to Lady Catherine, and stands by it. Absolute powerhouse, because she's conducting herself with better manners and behavior than Lady Catherine despite being insulted for being gentry rather than aristocracy.
Meg, on the other hand, behaves just as badly as Lady Catherine does. If Lady Catherine is polite to her, she's polite back, but if Lady Catherine is angry, Meg responds by belittling Lady Catherine as being old and senile and near death. She starts talking about her to other characters like she's not there, and doesn't take her seriously. She stops treating Lady Catherine as a person, and instead acts like she's a rowdy animal or nonverbal toddler to calm. It's gaslighting, dehumanizing, and just as horrible to read as any of Lady Catherine's worst rants. And Meg outright states that she does it with any older person who's upset. So basically, while Lady Catherine abuses her rank to bully non-aristocrats into doing what she wants, Meg abuses her youth to shut down any older person who doesn't do what she wants. How the hell am I supposed to find that funny?! Or root for her?! Elizabeth is still the GOAT. Full stop.
It also bothers me because while Carrie Bebris seems to go out of her way to research the Regency period and reconstruct it as close to accurate as possible, Meg throws all that accuracy out the window. She's not only lower ranking than Lady Catherine, she's not from the gentry at all. Being the daughter of an Earl, Lady Catherine would be considered an aristocrat, or Upper class. (AKA the rank that includes royalty and is as high as you can go socially.) Meg seems to have come from either the Fifth or Sixth class (almost the opposite end of the social spectrum, as the Seventh is the lowest), and her disputed marriage to a merchant marine (no spoilers) would have elevated her only to the Third class, if I'm reading the social chart I looked up correctly. (Please forgive me if I'm wrong.) What I'm not wrong about, however, is that Meg is WAY too low on the social scale to act the way she does, spirited heroine or not. There's no way you can convince me that anyone would have tolerated her behavior towards Lady Catherine, no matter how abrasive Lady Catherine is to her peers. Meg's character is neither believable, nor enjoyable, and I have zero interest in her finding an HEA for herself.
3. I will never be okay with the fact that we don't find out the ultimate fate of Charleybane! The abused Thoroughbred mare who desperately needed a good home, is last seen when she gets loose and shows up at the inn. We never find out who ultimately takes her in after all is said and done, and I'm salty because of all the characters in this story, I was seriously invested in her getting a happily ever after.
I love the premise of Carrie Bebris' series- follow Darcy and Elizabeth through the milestones of their married life, and solve some mysteries along the way! Sadly, that premise has only been so-so in execution for the first couple of books. The supernatural themes of Pride and Prescience, and Suspense and Sensibility, made me feel like the author wasn't sure what series she wanted to write. It needed to be either "The Supernatural Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy", or a good old classic who-dunnit. Not "the supernatural *might* be real" (book 1), then "Oh the supernatural is very real" (book 2), then "there's some eerie things but they can be explained away" (book 3). I read the author's notes explaining where her approach to each of the stories came from, and I appreciate her inspiration (especially for Suspense and Sensibility), but even so, it's just discordant bordering on false advertising to say that this series is a Regency "Nick and Nora" (from Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man") and then make the first half of the series supernatural. I've read and enjoyed supernatural Sherlock Holmes pastiches (currently enjoying the HP Lovecraft crosssover series by James Lovegrove), but I went into those knowing that this was the genre I was signing on for.
North by Northanger was previously my favorite Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery, because I loved the way it incorporated Mr. Tilney into the story, and because I was okay with the suggestion of the supernatural, in keeping with Northanger Abbey being Jane Austen's answer to the Gothic fiction of her day. But The Matters at Mansfield absolutely eclipsed it! Nothing supernatural, just Henry Crawford creating mess after mess with his many lies, multiple dead bodies and missing evidence, and Anne de Burgh finally defying her mother's tyranny to be a delightful character in her own right.
I only have a few complaints, and here they are:
1. Lack of involvement from the characters of Mansfield Park. We barely see Edmund Bertram, and never Fanny Price. Mostly it's the location of Mansfield Park, Edmund's father Sir Thomas, and Mr. Crawford who give the story its tie-in with the Mansfield Park novel. There's also some scenes with the Rushworths, Edmund's disgraced sister Maria, and Mrs. Norris. I wish Edmund would have played a bigger role, and that we could have seen Fanny!
2. Meg's character fell flat for me when she's first introduced, and it only gets worse from there. The character Meg I think was designed to be a bit of a modern heroine mixed with some comedic relief, maybe? Doesn't matter, because she lost me with her treatment of Lady Catherine, and the sloppy portrayal of a lower class individual encountering the upper classes.
First off, Lady Catherine is an arrogant, egotistical, class-obsessed bully. Everyone knows that, and nobody approves of it, not even Austen's own characters. (We won't count Mr. Collins.) HOWEVER, one of the best scenes in Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth standing up to Lady Catherine, because she doesn't have to act like an asshole to succeed. She states her truth, is polite and firm, never loses her temper even when stating that Lady Catherine has insulted her, and never resorts to insults and belittling. She simply says 'no' to Lady Catherine, and stands by it. Absolute powerhouse, because she's conducting herself with better manners and behavior than Lady Catherine despite being insulted for being gentry rather than aristocracy.
Meg, on the other hand, behaves just as badly as Lady Catherine does. If Lady Catherine is polite to her, she's polite back, but if Lady Catherine is angry, Meg responds by belittling Lady Catherine as being old and senile and near death. She starts talking about her to other characters like she's not there, and doesn't take her seriously. She stops treating Lady Catherine as a person, and instead acts like she's a rowdy animal or nonverbal toddler to calm. It's gaslighting, dehumanizing, and just as horrible to read as any of Lady Catherine's worst rants. And Meg outright states that she does it with any older person who's upset. So basically, while Lady Catherine abuses her rank to bully non-aristocrats into doing what she wants, Meg abuses her youth to shut down any older person who doesn't do what she wants. How the hell am I supposed to find that funny?! Or root for her?! Elizabeth is still the GOAT. Full stop.
It also bothers me because while Carrie Bebris seems to go out of her way to research the Regency period and reconstruct it as close to accurate as possible, Meg throws all that accuracy out the window. She's not only lower ranking than Lady Catherine, she's not from the gentry at all. Being the daughter of an Earl, Lady Catherine would be considered an aristocrat, or Upper class. (AKA the rank that includes royalty and is as high as you can go socially.) Meg seems to have come from either the Fifth or Sixth class (almost the opposite end of the social spectrum, as the Seventh is the lowest), and her disputed marriage to a merchant marine (no spoilers) would have elevated her only to the Third class, if I'm reading the social chart I looked up correctly. (Please forgive me if I'm wrong.) What I'm not wrong about, however, is that Meg is WAY too low on the social scale to act the way she does, spirited heroine or not. There's no way you can convince me that anyone would have tolerated her behavior towards Lady Catherine, no matter how abrasive Lady Catherine is to her peers. Meg's character is neither believable, nor enjoyable, and I have zero interest in her finding an HEA for herself.
3. I will never be okay with the fact that we don't find out the ultimate fate of Charleybane! The abused Thoroughbred mare who desperately needed a good home, is last seen when she gets loose and shows up at the inn. We never find out who ultimately takes her in after all is said and done, and I'm salty because of all the characters in this story, I was seriously invested in her getting a happily ever after.
princessleia4life's review against another edition
4.0
It was good, but I wish there was more interaction with the characters of Mansfield Park. I mean they could have made up a bunch of new characters with the amount of time they spend with the characters of Mansfield Park. The only one they really interact with is Henry Crawford and it isn’t for very long.
vivid_emma's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
tschmitty's review against another edition
3.0
I did not enjoy this one as much as the others in the series, but still a fun read. I am a sucker for all things Austen and have read my fair share of Austen-like/poser rip-offs, but these work for me. Perhaps because they are so strange and odd. Darcy and Liz as Mr. and Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is fun to read. Henry Crawford is just not quite as fun as some of her other characters, so this one did not quite hold my attention as much, still I hope there is more to come. "Emma" next please!
book_dragon88's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
mad_eleine_c's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0