top of page

Review: The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy by Regina Jeffers



Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Author: Regina Jeffers

Title: The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy

ASIN: B08DZVGT3F

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Ulysses Press, 2020

Page Count: 404 pages

Synopsis: Fitzwilliam Darcy is devastated. The joy of his recent wedding has been cut short by the news of the sudden death of his father’s beloved cousin, Samuel Darcy. Elizabeth and Darcy travel to Dorset, a popular Regency resort area, to pay their respects to the well-traveled and eccentric Samuel. But this is no summer holiday. Danger bubbles beneath Dorset’s peaceful surface as strange and foreboding events begin to occur. Several of Samuel’s ancient treasures go missing, and then his body itself disappears. As Darcy and Elizabeth investigate this mystery and unravel its tangled ties to the haunting legends of Dark Dorset, the legendary couple’s love is put to the test when sinister forces strike close to home. Some secrets should remain secrets, but Darcy will do all he can to find answers—even if it means meeting his own end in the damp depths of a newly dug grave.


I was auto-approved for this when the book was already out, so calling this copy an ARC is a lie. But I know that self-published authors are often on their own schedules, so I don't really mind that I got it so late in the game.


According to what I could find on Regina Jeffers' Amazon author page, she's a bit of what we might call an Austenian fanfiction author. Which I don't consider to be a strike against her. We value and support your fanfiction here, lads. However, she does have over 30 Jane Austen-based novels under her belt. Many of which seem to publish within the same year(s), which can be a bit concerning in terms of quality assurance. I understand the fervent feeling of inspiration, but three books in 2020? That's quite the rush.


Pride and Prejudice has inspired multiple mini series, shows, and adaptations across multiple media forms. It's a classic tale, and it's one of my favorites. The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy is a sequel, picking up after the marriage of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy.


The Characterizations


There are two camps of Pride and Prejudice readers/watchers. You either love Fitzwilliam or you hate him. Both camps seem to always miss the point of the esteemed Mr. Darcy. Austen wrote dialogue and engagements realistically for her time, but with a classical tongue. Whereas now, many writers and readers prefer to see those walls broken, most of Pride and Prejudice doesn't preclude the examination of how barbaric and ridiculous the social constructs of Austen's time were that demanded so much of their behaviors and ambitions.



Both Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam are completely flawed characters, though the reasons they are flawed vary greatly between Austen's depictions of them and how their peers viewed them.


If you were to ask a high class man or woman what is wrong with Elizabeth, they might say she is too prideful for her status, too mouthy, too impudent, too poor. If you were to ask Austen, it would be that her pride and mouth give her a unique edge and autonomy in a world that demands marriage and motherhood. However, she would admit that these traits are just as much her character as they are her downfall. She pushes people away she shouldn't, she's quick to judge others—sometimes with good reason, sometimes too quickly based on a small assortment of mistakes or flaws. With men Elizabeth might write off, her friends or sisters find comfort and love. In some cases, Elizabeth's tendency to write off a man as ordinary means she misses what makes them a dutiful partner. Sure, they may not have been right for her, but she often insists that her tastes or desires should be for every woman when that's never fair nor true.


In that way, many people who regard her as some feminist ideal don't realize how juvenile her behavior and impression of the world is. She has so much to learn, so much to experience, and while she is a loving and caring person, she does assume she's right in every accordance until she's finally proven wrong.


Now, if you were to ask, well, Elizabeth, what's wrong with Fitzwilliam, she might say that he's too rigid, too formal, too judgmental of anyone not of his world, and that he assumes too often that he is marriageable and perfect as he is. Despite his manner and class, he puts his foot in his mouth often and offends women regularly. If you were to ask Austen, she would agree with Elizabeth, but she has the knowledge that he is all of those things because he's lived his courting years being fawned over by women who were conditioned to believe they must marry the most suitable rich man they can. They have no ambition other than to impress him and many other men, which he doesn't consider a personality trait. He has begun to loathe it. Fitzwilliam is the way he is because he's lived his life in a world only trying to please him and never offering him real friendship or perspective, with a small exception. He arrives at yet another ball where women try to dance with him and fill him with platitudes. When we meet Fitzwilliam, he's grown completely tired of the life he's living, but it's a world that's also shaped him into being the snob he is. (Nature versus nurture, etc., etc.)



He's not someone to be romanticized. However, those who consider him an asshole are correct only to an extent. He's not made for a world that fawns over him as if he's a prize. He's awkward in his own right and exhausted by the waltz. Still, he's been conditioned to believe this is how the process works of finding a wife, and even if he loathes it, he may start to believe the ego forced onto him through years and years of servitude by everyone around him. (That's why rich people and celebrities lost a bit of themselves the richer and larger they become.)


When we meet Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy in The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy, they're married and in love. Doting on one another, grateful for the other's presence. It's mushy, and I get it, but it feels unbelievable in the way that Fitzwilliam's heel-turn in some depictions of Pride and Prejudice are. Depending on which adaptation you consider, some act as though the moment Fitzwilliam is able to drop his guard to say that he loves Elizabeth, all walls come crumbling down. But that's just not realistic for his character, and that's why I immediately cocked an eyebrow at this story. In The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy, he calls for Elizabeth to come to his study. When she arrives, he is gentle and kind, and I was fine with it. It even got a little steamy in a way that I can't say I hated. He was taken with the presence of his wife so much that he wanted to take her right there in his study, in spite of the servants nearby or the door wide open. But his reasoning for stopping was "Elizabeth's innocence" which... I'm not sure what was meant by that given they are married and had already been together. This idea that someone as vivacious as Elizabeth would be bashful and conservative post-marriage seems odd. I could imagine she would still have some conditioned beliefs around sex and marriage before they are actually wed. I mean, even the most rebellious woman was still taught within the constructs of the society that raised her, but to think that she wouldn't be just as passionate, when she has no reason to hold back is definitely a take. I guess.


When Fitzwilliam said that he might have to go out of town, Elizabeth steels herself because she hasn't spent a night away from him since they married. At this point, I actively rolled my eyes. Everything just felt forced and too-good-to-be-true between them. I have absolutely no problem with a character knowing they'd miss their spouse. But what happened to the independent, and fully capable Elizabeth we knew? Are you really telling me that her autonomy was taken out back and shot during the wedding ceremony? I don't think so.



No matter how in love you are, your character doesn't change. You can evolve, but that takes time, and these two built their identities around their behaviors. This is something that would still be an obstacle for them going into the relationship. I would have liked to see their egos still be barriers in some way for them. Perhaps have them disagree over fundamental differences, instead of just painting Elizabeth as someone who completely tosses aside all of her character traits to be the submissive wife. It was also frustrating to see Fitzwilliam depicted as so insecure without Elizabeth.


There were moments where you'd see Elizabeth have to bite her tongue (which I admit made me chuckle), but the next few lines would be just about Fitzwilliam's complete infatuation with her. I still remember reading that scooped her up, bridal-style, to carry her to the next room. And not in that way that led to anything sexual or romantic. He just did it because he just loved her so much..? I suppose that type of two-dimensional sappiness works on some people, but I found it all a little predictable and boring. I had far more fun watching Fitzwilliam try to get frisky in a carriage than I did with the romantic comedy style swooning.


I know some adaptations love that quick turnaround of their characters, but we could certainly be doing more examination of their characters this late in the game. I suppose I just want to see more of an honest look at how these two would truly get along. However, I'm sure Jeffers would disagree, given her extensive time within this universe.


The Writing and Format


One of the biggest things that annoyed me were weird filigree breaks between text. It happened even when the lines after were the continuation of the same conversation and scene. It was incredibly distracting to get interrupted so often. When they were placed appropriately, though, I think a bit more white space between the breaks and the text would help make it feel less cluttered.


Aside from ornamental line breaks, I had a hard time getting through a lot of this text. The writing felt like an author who desperately wanted to mimic Austen's classical language, but it felt just a tinge clumsier.



I don't necessarily mind that Jeffers was hoping to mimic Austen, but I wasn't particularly taken by it in practice. I'm sure she considers this her calling card as an author, and I'm sure there's a crowd out there who loves it for some sense of authenticity. But you can parrot the style without putting distance between the reader and the dialogue, which the iciness of a lot of the dialogue often did to try to keep to that style. I honestly don't think the story needed such an overworked effort to match Austen's syntax. For something published this year, more could have been done to examine the heart of 18th/19th century writing and how you can modernize it while still keeping the same elocution. Keep what makes Austen's work classic while offering a few more contractions throughout the text to make it easier to breathe and read.


If I pick up a book by Jane Austen, or her peers, I expect their writing. If I pick up a book by a 21st century author, accessibility to text for a present-day audience should be favored. It's not because there's anything inherently wrong with what was attempted here, but I do believe an editor (or different editor) might have helped Jeffers strike the balance to find the perfect, modernized, Austenian prose. I have an appreciation for how the writing was, but I understand its time and place.


The Plot


Truth is, there's so much more to this story and a reason why I requested The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy. I just enjoy fun spins on Pride and Prejudice and other stories I love. But what started out as an intriguing mystery around the death of Samuel got a bit too convoluted too quickly. A lot of corpses, a lot of names, a lot of mystery. The beginning of the story felt like a game of chase to find out who and why. But it slowly got out of hand in a way that—with everything else I've mentioned—felt like a cumbersome task to read. I almost DNF'd this book, but I wanted to give this ARC the fighting chance. Because there were parts of this I genuinely did want to see more of, even with all I've said, it's made me a bit curious what else Jeffers has offered in her other stories.


The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy may not have been the one for me, but perhaps it is for you? Have you read this or other works like it?



19 views
bottom of page