It was well written and held to the tradition of Jane Austen but slow to read. ( )

Ms. Bebris completes the published Canon with this tale. It is based upon my favorite of the original six. Persuasion. Here we see shades of Louisa Musgrave and her fall from the Cobb leading to all sorts of Intrigue and murder as we have come to know in the series.

As with previous volumes you must put aside your own interpretation of what the characters that Jane gave us would do, for amongst each set of the originals, Ms Bebris always finds one or more who have had a trait change so much that they can become a part of the scheme, or will end up as the body that spur Darcy and Lizzie onto their investigations.

One also has to put on hold one's belief that Jane developed the caricature for humorous effect to just the right level and no more, because Ms. Bebris continues on until her hyperbole is far beyond the pale for some of these characters. (Really, Sir Walter arrives in Lyme knowing his middle daughter has taken a house there and does not want to tell her that he has arrived?)

But there are instances where her manipulation of this, such as the scheme to acquire guardianship of a certain small creature, works splendidly.

As with the others, the investigation is alright, and perhaps here a little stronger than elsewhere, but it is not the man thing. We look to see what these beloved characters have been up to. Bebris does stretch to make it all work mixing the Darcy's of P&P with all the cast of Persuasion. And then adding in characters Jane never thought of or connexions (sometimes this has been overspelled in this archaic manner as it is one of the words Bebris does spell so) that never occurred to her to sell the story.

Still, as it finishes the six published works you will find that series has grown stronger and one hopes for more, learning that Sandition will next be added as a tract that Mr and Mrs Darcy will look into. (With all the spare single women of Pride and Prejudice becoming married off, it will be interesting to see what Ms. Bebris does with this sub-theme she has had in all the novels as well.) ( )

Excellent read. I thik Ms. Bebris does an excellent job with the Darcy's, keeping them true to Jane Austen's creations. I love getting lost in their adventures and I'm sorry to find that I'm caught up with this series now.

There are two mysteries in this book - the death of a pregnant woman and the death at sea of Mr. Darcy's cousin. Both are great mysteries - neither of which I had any idea who the culprit was! Great endings to them both! ( )

another definite winner from Carrie Bebris~ time well spent digging into the mysteries and cleverly plotted clues of favourite Jane Austen characters. Carrie is a master of accurate dialogue and realities of the era, making her stories ring true and plausible for this mystery buff!
i enjoy the connections between various JA novels as Carrie brings the Wentworths and Harvilles of Lyme together with Darcy, Elizabeth and Georgiana, then adds in the Crofts, Elliots and Mrs. Clay for an extra measure of mystery... you won't want to put it down any more than I did I'm sure ;)

a great weekend read leaving me with a sense of enjoyable satisfaction ~ Thanks [again] Carrie! ( )

This Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery was pretty good--one of the better ones, I would say. Maybe that's because Persuasion is my favorite Austen book. In this one, the sleuths investigate the mysterious fall of Penelope Clay off the Cobb in Lyme Regis, the same site of Louisa Musgrove's accident just months before.

The setting at Lyme Regis is fun. I would love to go to Lyme because fiction authors always make it sound so interesting! (Tracy Chevalier, Austen, John Fowles) In The Deception at Lyme, Bebris makes the Cobb come alive, and the setting of Lyme is essential to the storyline of the book.

I always enjoy these Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries. I can't say they're great literature, and I stopped counting up the anachronistic words and phrases pretty early on. But Bebris does a strong job of channeling Jane Austen's voice and humor and (I think) plausibly guessing how characters, even minor ones, might act in an alternate Austenverse.

I was a little sad not to see Captain Benwick or the Musgrove girls. The cameo appearance of Mary Musgrove is written pitch-perfectly, however, making up for that lack. ( )