I was very disappointed in this book. Had P.D. James decided to write a mystery with the Austen characters intact--ie, their entire personalities changed and theirives from the original book re-examined and determined as other than Austen herself intended--I might have enjoyed this book. As it was, it seemed to me that James used it as an opportunity to offer her own interpretation on the events and actions of the original P&P novel. Here are just a few of the pretty major changes of character that she made: Colonel Fitzwilliam, no longer an honorable man but one with suspect intentions toward his own ward, Georgiana, and supposedly having slighted Elizabeth before her marriage because of her impoverished state; Lizzie, married Darcy because he was rich and she wasn't meant to scrimp and save; George Wickham as a redeemable gentleman. As an avid Jane Austen reader, I was offended that James decided to force her interpretation of the original book on me in her book and I couldn't finish the book. I did skip to the end to see if things got any better or if the plot of THIS book ever managed to become predominant over its authors' desire to reflect on the first book--it did not.
