Death Comes to Pemberley -- October 2013 meeting

P. D. JAMES -- DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

P.D. JAMES   aka

James, Phyllis Dorothy,James White, Phyllis Dorothy,White, Phyllis Dorothy James,Baroness James of Holland Park;  Born August 3, 1920, in Oxford, England;  married Ernest Conner Bantry White (a medical practitioner), August 8, 1941 (died, 1964); children: Clare, Jane

Awards:

First prize, Crime Writers Association contest, 1967, for short story, "Moment of Power"; Order of the British Empire, 1983; created Life Peer of United Kingdom (Baroness James of Holland Park), 1991; Diamond Dagger Award, Crime Writers Association for services to crime writing; Silver Dagger Awards, Crime Writers Association, for Shroud for a Nightingale and The Black Tower; Edgar Award, Mystery Writers of America, for Shroud for a Nightingale; Scroll Award, Mystery Writers of America, for An Unsuitable Job for a Woman; Litt.D., University of Buckingham, 1992; Doctor of Literature, University of London, 1993

Although P. D. James is best known for her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, she has based this novel on Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen, and upon the characters within it. Six years after her marriage, Elizabeth Darcy is happily living with her husband and two sons at Pemberley, when, after the end of their annual autumn ball, an uninvited guest arrives in a chaise from the woods surrounding the estate screaming that her husband has been murdered, thereby shattering Elizabeth's peaceful life.

Read-alikes from NoveList

Novels based on Jane Austen’s characters or featuring Jane Austen have become something of a cottage industry.  Here are some that are classified at mysteries.

Lady Catherine's Necklace by Joan Aiken

More character-driven than Death Comes to Pemberley, Lady Catherine's Necklace is

another sequel to Pride and Prejudice that adds elements of mystery to the familiar world and

characters of Jane Austen's classic novel. -- Gillian Speace

Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen by Lindsay Ashford

Upon its publication in the UK, Lindsay Ashford's fictional interpretation of the few facts surrounding Jane Austen's mysterious death sparked an international debate and uproar. None of the medical theories offer a satisfactory explanation of Jane Austen's early demise at the age of forty-one.

Jane Austen Mysteries by Stephanie Barron

Author Jane Austen is thrust into the role of detective.

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries by Carrie Bebris

In these engaging, atmospheric historical mysteries -- both "sequels" to Jane Austen's

Pride and Prejudice -- Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy's lives are complicated by murders and other misfortunes, prompting the couple to engage in some amateur sleuthing. -- Gillian Speace

Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie James

Discovering a letter written by Jane Austen inside of an old book, Samantha investigates the letter's suggestions about a possible undiscovered manuscript.

Murder Most Austen by Tracy Kiely

Attending a Jane Austen festival in Bath, Elizabeth Parker meets a self-proclaimed Austen expert who suggests that a darker story is hidden within each Austen novel and that he knows unsettling truths about the author's death.

Murder in Abbot’s Folly by Amy Myers

Peter Marsh and his daughter Georgia expect to be investigating an old, unsolved murder case when they are invited to a summer gala at a Georgian mansion in honor of Jane Austen, but find themselves embroiled in a new murder

Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd

Readers who don't mind some playful reconfiguring of Jane Austen's novels may enjoy both

Murder at Mansfield Park (in which Fanny Price is murdered!), and Death Comes to Pemberley (in which Elizabeth Darcy has a murder to solve). -- Victoria Caplinger

Adam Dalgliesh series:

1.  Cover her face (May 2001)

2. A mind to murder (Jan 1963)

3. Unnatural causes (Jun 1967)

4. Shroud for a nightingale (Jan 1971)

5.The black tower (Aug 1975)

6. Death of an expert witness (Oct 2001)

7. A taste for death (Nov 1986)

8. Devices and desires (May 2004)

9. Original sin (Feb 1995)

10. A certain justice    (Dec 1997)

11. Death in holy orders (Apr 2001)

12. The murder room (Nov 2003)

13. The lighthouse   (Nov 2005)

14.The private patient (Nov 2008)

Cordelia Gray

An unsuitable job for a woman (1972)

The skull beneath the skin(Jan 1983)

Heresy by S. J. Parris

Heresy by S. J. Parris

August, 2013

S.J. Parris is the pen name of Stephanie Merritt (born 1974, in Surrey, England) who began reviewing books for national newspapers while she was reading English literature at Queens' College, Cambridge. After graduating, she went on to become Deputy Literary Editor of The Observer in 1999. She continues to work as a feature writer and critic for the Guardian and the Observer and from 2007-2008 she curated and produced the Talks and Debates program on issues in contemporary arts and politics at London's Soho Theatre. She has appeared as a panelist on various Radio Four shows and on BBC2's Newsnight Review, and is a regular chair and presenter at the Hay Festival and the National Theatre. She has been a judge for the Costa Biography Award, the Orange New Writing Award and the Perrier Comedy Award. She lives in the south of England with her son.

by Stephanie Merritt:

• Gaveston, Faber & Faber (London, England), 2002.
• Real, Faber & Faber (London, England), 2005.
• The Devil Within: A Memoir of Depression, Vermilion (London, England), 2009.

Has written for the Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, Zembla, and Die Welt, and served as deputy literary editor and a staff writer at the Observer.

======================

Merritt's first novel written under the pseudonym S.J. Parris is Heresy. Set in the late sixteenth century, the novel's protagonist is Giordano Bruno. An actual historical personage, Bruno was a Franciscan monk who fled Italy when he was accused of heresy for embracing scientific and astronomical theories at that time considered threatening by the Vatican. Bruno ultimately took shelter in England. In the novel, Bruno is employed by the Queen of England as a spy sent to diffuse a brewing treasonous conspiracy at Oxford, only to find himself also investigating a series of locked-room murders.

Series:

Heresy: an historical thriller ( 2010)

Condemned for his heretical belief that the Earth orbits the sun, scientist and occult researcher Giordano Bruno runs away from the Holy Roman Inquisition and is unexpectedly recruited by Elizabeth I, who dispatches him to Oxford to investigate a Catholic rebellion and foreign plots to assassinate her.  Series: Giordano Bruno thrillers, 1  

Prophecy ( 2011)

The alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, the two most powerful planets, is known as the Great Conjunction and only happens once every one thousand years. Rumours of black magic are stirred when some of Queen Elizabeth's maids are found dead and she calls on her personal astrologers to try and solve the crime.  Series: Giordano Bruno thrillers, 2  

Sacrilege (2012)

Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth, has long suspected an undercurrent of Catholic resistance in the city that was once England's greatest centre of pilgrimage. He calls Giordano Bruno, his maverick secret agent, but when Bruno arrives in Canterbury, he has no idea of the dark secrets he's about to uncover.  Series: Giordano Bruno thrillers, 3  

Treachery (2013)

Summer, 1585: As English ships are held captive in Spain, fear mounts of an Invincible Armada, built by King Philip II, and intended to invade English shores. Sir Francis Drake prepares to embark on an expedition by royal commission to cross the Atlantic and seize major Spanish ports, diverting Philip's American treasure supplies to Queen Elizabeth. Giordano Bruno, radical philosopher and spy, accompanies his friend Sir Philip Sidney to Plymouth to oversee Drake's departure.  Series: Giordano Bruno thrillers,  4

Read-alikes from NoveList:

Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

In 1327, Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate charges of heresy against Franciscan monks at a wealthy Italian abbey but finds his mission overshadowed by seven bizarre murders

The Scottish prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

In the 18th century, paroled prisoner-of-war Jamie Fraser and his old friend Tobias Quinn must travel from London to Ireland on a mission of intrigue surrounding packet of documents and an ancient relic. By the best-selling author of Outlander.

Justin de Quincy mysteries by Sharon Kay Penman

A series of historical mystery novels set in the late 12th century, featuring Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's personal sleuth Justin de Quincy

Matthew Shardlake novels by C. J. Sansom

Matthew Shardlake, a keenly intelligent hunchback lawyer in the service of Thomas Cromwell, seeks to create a world in which faith and charity would be enough to settle differences.

Kit Marlowe mysteries by M. J. Trow

The Giordano Bruno and Kit Marlowe mysteries are both set in Elizabethan England and feature educated men as the undercover sleuths at court. The fast-paced stories are filled with rich historical details and a strong sense of place. -- Merle Jacob

.

Mysteries to Watch & Read

Mysteries to Read & Watch

Read first and then watch?  or Watch first and then read?  Whichever you choose, there is a large selection of television mysteries that are based on books.  Often the first episodes in a series are adaptations of  books, and then when there are no more books to adapt, the series will continue with the same characters in new stories.  The DVDs on this list are all available through the Peninsula Library System ( www.catalog.plsinfo.org ).  To find them, look under the series name, or the book title, or the author, or key words, and then modify the search by limiting format to DVD. This list is available on line at http://belmysterygroup.blogspot.com/

Campion based on novels by Margery Allingham

Murphy’s Law based on the novel  by Colin Bateman

Wycliffe based on the novels of W.J. Burley

Hamish Macbeth based on characters created by M.C. Beaton

Young Montalbano and Detective Montalbano based on stories by Andrea Camilleri

Father Brown  based on the novels by G.K. Chesterton

Agatha Christie’s Poirot with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Agatha Christie Marple: the Classic Mysteries Collection with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple

Marple with Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple

Agatha Christie Marple with Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple

The Agatha Christie Hour based on stories by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie Partners in Crime; the Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries

Inspector Morse based on novels and characters created by Colin Dexter

Zen  based on the Aurelio Zen novels by  Michael Dibdin

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone. based on works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes Collection with Nigel Stock, based on works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes; the Complete Series with Ronald Howard, based on works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes; the Complete Granada Television Series with Jeremy Brett based on works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [also: Casebook of Sherlock Holmes / Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes / Return of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars with Jonathan Pryce based on characters created by  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Racing Game based on novels by Dick Francis

Van der Valk  Mysteries based on the fiction of Nicolas Freeling

Perry Mason based on the works of Erle Stanley Gardner

Lovejoy based on the novels by Jonathan Gash

Inspector  Lynley Mysteries based on novels  by Elizabeth George

Midsomer Murders based on the characters created by Caroline Graham

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries based on the novels by Kerry Greenwood

Dalziel & Pascoe based on characters created by Reginald Hill

George Gently based on books by Alan Hunter

Adam Dalgliesh  (search under individual titles) based on novels by PD James

Unsuitable Job for a Woman based the character created by PD James (Cordelia Gray)

Commissario Brunetti by Donna Leon

Sergeant Cribb based on the novels by Peter Lovesey

Henning Mankell’s Wallander in Swedish, based on original stories by Henning Mankell

Wallander with Kenneth Branagh based on novels by Henning Mankell (BBC)

Inspector Alleyn Mysteries based on novels by Ngaio Marsh

No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency based on the novels by Alexander McCall Smith

Wire in the Blood based on characters created by Val McDermid

Mrs. Bradley Mysteries based on the novels by Gladys Mitchell

Cadfael  based on books by Ellis Peters

Ellery Queen Mysteries: Complete Series

Rebus based on the novels by Ian Rankin

Ruth Rendell Mysteries based on the novels of Ruth Rendell

Lord Peter Wimsey with Ian Carmichael based on books by Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walker

Maigret Collection with Michael Gambon based on the mystery novels of Georges Simenon

Maigret with Bruno Cremer, in French, adaptation of novels by Georges Simenon

Private Investigator, Varg Veum in Norwegian, based on novels by Gunnar Staalesen

Nero Wolfe; the Complete Series based on the works of Rex Stout

Last Detective ‘Dangerous Davies’ novels by Leslie Thomas

Touch of Frost  based on the novels by R.D. Wingfield