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by: Tirzah Price
Recommended Age: YA Readers (13+ and above)
Lexile: N/A
Content Warning(s): Kidnapping, murder, torture, racism, some gory details (not too graphic)
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young woman who desires a law career must be in want of a case. So when sixteen year old Lizzie Bennet hears about a scandalous society murder, she sees an opportunity to prove herself as a solicitor by solving the case and ensuring justice is served.
Except the man accused of the crime already has a lawyer on his side: Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the stern young heir to the prestigious Pemberley Associates law firm. Lizzie is determined to solve the murder before Darcy can so that she can show the world that a woman can be just as good as a man. (The fact that Darcy is an infuriating snob doesn’t help.) But there’s still a killer on the loose, and as the case gets more complicated, Lizzie and Darcy may have to start working together to avoid becoming the next victims themselves." (book summary)
My Thoughts:
A twist on the Jane Austen classic, Pride and Premeditation is a fascinating murder mystery starring a strong-willed protagonist, Lizzie Bennet, set in a 19th-century society with clear expectations of a woman's role. Lizzie's quest to prove herself to gain a job as a solicitor at her father's firm, Longbourn and Sons, is the initial motive to find a case she can solve with logic. Amid her internal quest, she gets word of a murder concerning two high society men, George Hurst, and the accused, his brother-in-law, Charles Bingley. Lizzie decides to investigate the case despite Mr. Bingley having already hired his old friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy as his solicitor. I was initially skeptical of this retelling of Austen's most famous, partly because I wasn't a fan of Pride and Prejudice from the few pages I read and promptly abandoned it. However, the plot sounded interesting enough for me to try it out, and it lived up to my expectation. It was intriguing reading about Lizzie's adventures and how she paved a new path for women, even if this wasn't what historical accounts say. A kind of unrelated piece of information, Pride and Premeditation was the 100th book I read in 8th grade. I'm looking forward to reading Price's next book in her Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, Sense and Second-Degree Murder, based on Austen's 1811 novel, Sense and Sensibility.
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