Pride and Premeditation

Jane Austen…but with murder. Elizabeth Bennett, crime solver.

Enter Tirzah Price’s Pride and Premeditation, out this April 2021, and enter a bit of 1813 that you’ll know–though Lizzie Bennett is much more feminist that the time may allow. She wants to be a barrister like her father and argue cases and solve them, but she’s a woman, and her father has already named Collins as his inheritor. But Mr. Bennett tells her to seek out her own case and she finds a doozy–Mr. Hearst (Bingley’s brother in law, husband of Louisa) has been murdered! And Bingley has been arrested and charged!

Lizzie is on the case…but so is rival barrister in training Mr. Darcy, and with a runner like Wickham around, lots of sisters underfoot, and not a lot of time, they’ll have to move quick to find out who killed Mr. Hearst and why.

This isn’t the traditional Austen retelling that still shoe-horns the romance–there’s a bit–but the murder and crime solving part of society is much more the focal point. Lizzie is still fun and insightful, Collins is still the worst, and Mr. Darcy is still always there, and while this didn’t blow me away, I enjoyed it well enough!

A solid 3.75 stars I’d say– a unique take but not mindblowing. A good holiday read, therefore, right?