An adaptation of the P.D.James novel, the Regency-set murder mystery is the author’s homage to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice with its storyline six years after the socially controversial marriage of Elizabeth Bennet (Anna Maxwell-Martin) and Fitzwilliam Darcey.
Respectful of the earlier novel and written as it is in the style of Austen with characters and family and social narratives adhered to, Death Comes to Pemberley includes the reappearance of the disgraced George Wickham (Matthew Goode) and his wife, Lydia (Jenna Coleman), Elizabeth’s sister. It is the arrival of a distressed Lydia late at night that sets in motion a chain of events that could easily see the ruin of Darcey (Matthew Rhys), both financially and socially.
Plans for the annual Pemberley ball are cancelled as a body is found in the woods and a drunk, blood-covered Wickham claims he is responsible for the death of his friend. With evidence mounting against Wickham, his trial and hanging looks a foregone conclusion – and with it, as a brother-in-law, the good name of Darcey.
It’s a fun upstairs/downstairs ride as Elizabeth moves comfortably between the two worlds of the rambling estate where events in the kitchens and grounds impact on the lives of the Darceys. She is determined to find out the truth that will save Wickham but, more importantly, her husband.
Rating: 64%
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