Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Darcy and Elizabeth witness, at various times, clues that might throw light on the murder that pollutes the shades of Pemberley and are always wishing to themselves that they had the time to converse with their spouse. James, however, perversely keeps them apart, perhaps knowing that she hasn't the talent to write dialogue between two of the most beloved characters in the canon. What she passes over, however, is the inevitable truth that, between the scenes which she chooses to depict in her novel, Darcy and Elizabeth would absolutely have time to talk to one another "off-stage," as it were, but they apparently fail to do that either so that they can both be flabbergasted by the facts which they failed ever to uncover to one another, as they apparently ceased to exist when the author wasn't using them.
The second disappointment is like unto the first: Darcy and Elizabeth are reduced to passive ciphers in their own home. The Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries are far from great, but at least Darcy and Lizzy are active agents in the plot. Here, they merely stand by, wringing their hands and apparently never speaking to one another, as they leave the detecting to the local authorities.
The deficiencies do not stop there. Darcy's sister is interchangeably referred to as "Miss Darcy" and "Miss Georgiana," the author seemingly unaware that an eldest (or only) unmarried sister would never be addressed by her first name without intimacy first being established. Colonel Fitzwilliam is vilely slandered by his depiction here. And James "fixes" Austen by devoting the entire last chapter to a long and detailed apology by Darcy for everything he did "wrong" in Pride and Prejudice. Between this and the two First Impressionss, it's been a very bad run of Austeniana.
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