Release Date: May 16, 2023
About the Author: Claudia Gray has worked as a lawyer, a journalist, a disc jockey, and an extremely poor waitress. Her lifelong interests in old houses, classic movies, vintage style, and history all play a part in creating the world of Evernight. Claudia Gray is the pseudonym of Amy Vincent. She is the writer of multiple young adult novels, including the Evernight series, the Firebird trilogy, and the Constellation trilogy. In addition, she’s written several Star Wars novels, such as Lost Stars and Bloodline, and is one of the story architects of the High Republic series. She makes her home in New Orleans with her husband Paul and assorted small dogs.
MY REVIEW
When Jonathan Darcy is invited to a house party by his old school “friend” Willoughby, he cringes at the idea of spending days on end with the man who bullied him all through his school years. The happy fortune of Juliet Tilney being in the same vicinity, visiting her friends the Brandons, makes it almost worth the daily humiliation that Willoughby, Follet, and Bamber thrust upon him. Jonathan discovers that Willoughby’s marriage is not a happy one. His rich wife Sophia is continually unhappy with him, and Willoughby is doing all in his power to ingratiate himself with the woman he deserted, Marianne Brandon.
When Mrs. Willoughby drinks a glass of port while at a dinner party and falls down dead of poisoning, the entire countryside begins whispering in shocked wonder. Marianne Brandon, so fresh for her justified self-defense against Mr. Wickham, is the logical suspect. It is up to Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney to join forces to clear their friend in the court of public opinion and to catch the real killer before he (or she?) strikes again.
Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney reprise their delightful roles from the first book in the series as amateur investigators. Juliet–kind, understanding, and quick-witted–puts up with Jonathan’s quirks and mannerisms like no one else can, seeing the great-hearted man behind the odd fellow whom his schoolfellows nicknamed “Thumps.” Jonathan uses his logical mind and social oddities to painstakingly wend his way to the truth . . . and to a realization that Juliet Tilney is the one person in life he could imagine taking into his arms to hold and have forever. Although the book leaves us in suspense of that resolution (it is a series, after all!), it was delightful seeing Jonathan come to terms with the reality of love and what it could mean to be close to another person.
As with the first book, a few of the representations of Austen’s characters were right on target, and a few felt like a miss. The Brandons, learning how to deepen their relationship, felt true to Austen’s story. Elinor and Edward Ferrars, however, were a little on the dull side and missing the Austen sparkle. The side plot involving Edward’s relationship to his mother was not my favorite. Sir John Middleton and Mrs. Jennings were amusing, however, and Willoughby was as much of a self-absorbed monster as one would expect. My favorite characters are still the ones that Claudia Gray has crafted for herself (Jonathan and Juliet), and I would be curious to read a Regency by her that is NOT an Austen spinoff and entirely her own creation. At the same time, one wonders which Austen family Jonathan and Juliet will visit next in the next installment of the series . . . I’m certain that I’ll be going along for the ride.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Yet all attention was on Elinor as Marianne led her to her husband, to the door, toward the carriage that would bear her toward motherhood. The murder of Mrs. Willoughby, and the would-be murder that might have occurred that night, were already all but forgotten, for fascinating as death is, it will never capture our attention so completely as life.
-The Late Mrs. Willoughby, by Claudia Gray
Rosanne E. Lortz 