The Matters at Mansfield (Or the Crawford Affair) by Carrie Bebris

The Matters at Mansfield is the fourth in the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mystery series. The first three books; Pride and Prescience, Suspense and Sensibility, and North by Northanger are enjoyable mysteries. It is especially fun to see the different characters of Austen’s novels interact together.

In The Matters at Mansfield, the Darcys find themselves once again embroiled in a mystery. Anne de Bourgh has eloped with Henry Crawford in order to avoid an arranged marriage by her mother to an abusive man. Mr. Crawford has several secrets of his own, which the Darcys are determined to find out. I don’t want to say more and ruin the plot.

SPOILER ALERT
I enjoyed the mystery and found this a lively and quick read. I didn’t enjoy that Mr. Crawford was murdered. Truthfully, I liked Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park and he seemed loving in this book towards Anne. I think it would have been more interesting to see how their relationship turned out. Although Edmund is briefly seen, it would have been really cool for the Darcys to visit Edmund and Fanny Bertram. I kept hoping they would throughout the book.
SPOILER END

This novel could stand on its own as a good mystery. It was also humorous and I had a few laugh out loud moments at some of the characters, including Mrs. Norris. I love the marriage between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, they make a good crime solving duo.

Carrie Bebris is a Wisconsin native that now lives in Ohio; therefore I am going to count her as at Literary Local as I live in Wisconsin. I thought she did live in Wisconsin until I checked the back flap of this book, did she just move?

Her next novel, The Intrigue at Highbury (or Emma’s Match), will be released in March 2010. It sounds interesting and I will definitely be reading it!

This is also item eight on the Everything Austen Challenge.