Free Book (nook) - The Phantom of Pemberley

[koland]

The Phantom of Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Murder Mystery ($9.70 Kindle), by Regina Jeffers, is today's Free Friday book at B&N.

Book Description
HAPPILY MARRIED for over a year and more in love than ever, Darcy and Elizabeth can’t imagine anything interrupting their bliss-filled days. Then an intense snowstorm strands a group of travelers at Pemberley, and terrifying accidents and mysterious deaths begin to plague the manor. Everyone seems convinced that it is the work of a phan-tom—a Shadow Man who is haunting the Darcy family’s grand estate.

Darcy and Elizabeth believe the truth is much more menacing and that someone is trying to murder them. But Pem-berley is filled with family guests as well as the unexpected travelers—any one of whom could be the culprit—so unraveling the mystery of the murderer’s identity forces the newlyweds to trust each other’s strengths and work together.

Written in the style of the era and including Austen’s romantic playfulness and sardonic humor, this suspense-packed sequel to Pride and Prejudice recasts Darcy and Elizabeth as a husband-and-wife detective team who must solve the mystery at Pemberley and catch the murderer—before it’s too late.

Click HERE for the free download from B&N.

[queentess]

I really don't understand all the P&P spin-off fiction. Apparently I am the minority...

[koland]

I'm over in that corner with you, but these seem to be wildly popular (and not just with "authors").

[elizilla]

It's just another fanfic, but one with more literary pretensions. And no worries about copyright infringement. The ones I have looked at are more well written than most fanfic, perhaps because the kind of people who appreciate Austen enough to emulate her, have a taste for good writing and a terrific author to emulate, instead of taking television as their model.

[Catlady]

For some reason I've felt compelled to download these whenever they're free. But I too don't understand the proliferation of spin-offs.

[ATDrake]

My personal crackpot hypothesis is that the writers are indulging their Colin Firth-as-Darcy wet-shirt fantasies after seeing the BBC miniseries (Bridget Jones' Diary and Lost in Austen did this, I believe), and the publishers have been bandwagon-jumping after the resurgence in Austen-popularity after definitely P&P&Zombies and maybe the Kiera Knightley movie came out.

So that's why we've seen so many newly-published mostly P&P-based Austen-derivatives in recent years, often with a paranormal twist (and few Northanger Abbey ones, which is a shame, because that's the one best suited to paranormal satirization).

Anyway, I think I'll actually read this one because I rather like gimmick sleuth mysteries and this seems a bit different from the usual spate of sparkly vampire Darcy was a really real man that Jane Austen really met and loved so much she had to write about him after he went away leaving her tragically alone!!!!!/Pemberley: The Next Generation And How They Were Begotten In Lavish Erotic Detail sort of fanfic that gets published.

[MaggieScratch]

As someone who has been writing Austen fanfic/paraliterature (as I call it) since the late 90s, I can speak a bit on the subject. I have heard that certain publishers prefer to publish only P&P-related stuff and if they publish stuff related to the other novels at all, it's very rare. Apparently it just doesn't sell as well. It's out there, though--even NA (though in my case, not paranormal--remember NA is a parody of the Gothics).

And yes, you can blame most of it on Colin Firth, and some on Matthew Macfadyen.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

It's out there, though--even NA (though in my case, not paranormal--remember NA is a parody of the Gothics).

I know; that's why I think it would be perfect for paranormalization. Something which already sort-of mocks tamed horror-ish tropes then being mashed-up with them and further mocking them "live", so to speak? Bonus!

I wonder if there's any correlation between the availability of recent-ish Austen film/tv adaptations and the popularity of derivative books related to the originals that got adapted. That might kind of explain why Sense and Sensibility and Emma seem to be the runners-up, spinoff-wise, and Mansfield Park* and Persuasion seem to be mostly ignored†.

* Okay, there was Mansfield Park and Mummies, but I suspect that was mostly done for alliterative purposes.

† No miniseries? No market!

[MaggieScratch]

There is some Persuasion stuff out there (I have written quite a bit, but not yet published it except as online fanfic). I have a Persuasion-inspired story in an anthology to be published this autumn. The editor identified a small problem with the story that I was able to fix--not so much a problem as recognizing that not everyone who will read the anthology will have read Persuasion, and I need to be careful about providing backstory! I find that odd, though I've received more than one comment that someone who read one of my stories will now read Persuasion or Northanger Abbey because they liked my story so much. I am both pleased and horrified by such comments.

A friend of mine once said that Henry Tilney doesn't get as much love as Mr. Darcy because there wasn't a film with a really hot actor playing him. This was before the film from a few years ago, which I didn't care for, but the actor who played Henry was okay.

There's a lot of drama and romance in S&S--Brandon's backstory, the Marianne/Willoughby romance--that I think lends itself to modern writers, who tend to introduce a great deal of "incident" into their Austen-inspired stories. Emma has so many characters that it's easy to find a bit of backstory to make your own--the romance between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill, for instance, I think could be interesting territory to explore. And there you might have part of the reason for all the stories--Austen's novels are so rich, there is a lot of ground for authors to explore and play in. Unfortunately a lot of what's out there is just an excuse to get Darcy out of his kit, not interesting, deep explorations. We're definitely still waiting for our Wide Sargasso Sea in the Austen fandom.

I just read a really good modern-set book that is influenced by MP but not a sequel or retelling--it's called My Jane Austen Summer by Cindy Jones. It will be out next week (I have an ARC because I'll be reviewing it for my blog). It was really refreshing to read something based on MP!

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

. Emma has so many characters that it's easy to find a bit of backstory to make your own--the romance between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill, for instance, I think could be interesting territory to explore.

It's been done,. Aiken's were the first I read in this genre, and I liked them. They were also done well before the Colin Firth fans drove the new surge in popularity.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

I just read a really good modern-set book that is influenced by MP but not a sequel or retelling--it's called My Jane Austen Summer by Cindy Jones. It will be out next week (I have an ARC because I'll be reviewing it for my blog). It was really refreshing to read something based on MP!

I've read My Jane Austen Summer too, and I also enjoyed it.

There's a Northanger Abbey sequel entitled There Must Be Murder, available for free at B&N, or here in additional formats. I haven't read it, but it looks interesting.

What about the Jane Austen mystery series by Stephanie Barron? Anyone have any comments on those?

[MaggieScratch]

Originally Posted by Joykins

It's been done,. Aiken's were the first I read in this genre, and I liked them. They were also done well before the Colin Firth fans drove the new surge in popularity.

There are a couple of Jane/Frank books around--I was really just using that as an example. I didn't hate Aiken's, but didn't love it either.

Originally Posted by Catlady

There's a Northanger Abbey sequel entitled There Must Be Murder, available for free at B&N, or here in additional formats. I haven't read it, but it looks interesting.

I'm familiar with it. (see sig)

What about the Jane Austen mystery series by Stephanie Barron? Anyone have any comments on those?

I like them a lot, but they require a great deal of suspension of disbelief if you know much about Austen's life. But in a good way.

P.S. If you're interested in a semi-paranormal NA sequel, try Nachtsturm Castle by Emily C.A. Snyder--disclaimer, I know her in an online way and suggested that she try to get the book published. But I suggested it because it's really well-written and intelligent, lots of fun and romantic, but with a bit of creepiness to it as well.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

I'm familiar with it. (see sig)

Oh, duh. (Note to self: read people's sigs.)

I like them a lot, but they require a great deal of suspension of disbelief if you know much about Austen's life. But in a good way.

I don't know much about her, actually--I like mysteries, and I may try one of these.

P.S. If you're interested in a semi-paranormal NA sequel, try Nachtsturm Castle by Emily C.A. Snyder--disclaimer, I know her in an online way and suggested that she try to get the book published. But I suggested it because it's really well-written and intelligent, lots of fun and romantic, but with a bit of creepiness to it as well.

Funny, I only discovered the girlebooks site today and happened to notice this under the New Releases section. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by queentess

I really don't understand all the P&P spin-off fiction. Apparently I am the minority...

I used to be in the same boat, until I finally read the book and saw the miniseries (not in that order ). I'm glad this one was free because it was already on my wishlist. This is one of the few times that has happened. So I'm happy, even if lots of other people are asking "Can't we have a thriller?" (But I would also be happy with more thrillers on Free Friday . )

I wonder why there haven't been more Jane Eyre continuations/spin-offs? They're out there, but it doesn't seem to be a cottage industry. Maybe it's overall too dark. Or maybe the novels "inspired by" Jane Eyre (some of the Mary Stewart novels, Rebecca, etc.) filled the need?

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

indulging their Colin Firth-as-Darcy wet-shirt fantasies