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Readingomnivore Reviews

CONVERSATIONS WITH MR. DARCY is Mary Lydon Simsonsen's novella variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2017.

CONVERSATIONS WITH MR. DARCY opens the morning of the assembly at Meryton. It compresses the action to have Elizabeth and Darcy (and Jane and Bingley) engaged by the end of the ball at Netherfield. The most important change to the original story line is Darcy's recognition of the effect of his behavior at the assembly and his efforts, especially with Elizabeth, to overcome the negative impression. Adjustments and additions involve the story of Darcy's Great-aunt Marie who married for love, his visiting Georgiana in St Albans, Darcy's absence in Ireland on urgent business to account for Mrs. Younge and Ramsgate, his immediate disclosure to Elizabeth of Wickham's falsehoods, and his final direct questions about her rumored marriage to Mr. Colllins.

As implied by the title, conversations are more important here than is usual in fan fiction. Darcy talks openly with Bingley, Georgiana, Wickham, his manservant Mercer, and, most importantly, Elizabeth. Elizabeth converses with Jane and Charlotte. These discussions reveal character, minimize angst, and speed the action. Including the full text of "Rural Felicity," the song Elizabeth sings at the Lucases' party and of Caroline's invitation for Jane to visit Netherfield feels like padding.

I dislike that Darcy, when reliably informed that Wickham may have designs against Lydia, decides to wait about informing anyone because he wants to savor the happiness of his engagement. While CONVERSATIONS WITH MR. DARCY is a comfortable read, it is in no way memorable. (C)
 
MIDNIGHT COME AGAIN is the tenth book in Dana Stabenow's long-running Kate Shugak mystery series. It was originally published in 2000 and reissued in digital format in 2007.

The summer following the murder of Kate Shugak's lover Jack Morgan (see Hunter's Moon), First Sergeant Jim Chopin, Alaska State trooper, looks for her, but Kate's gone from the Park, and none of her friends have heard from her in months. All are worried about her isolation and emotional shutdown since Jack's death. Kate's needed for an investigation into theft from dissolved Soviet Union stockpiles and sale of plutonium to American domestic terrorists. An informant spots one of the Russians involved in the theft in Anchorage; the thief's traced to Bering, Alaska, crowded with foreign-registered processing ships, including the Russian Kosygin, and buyers for salmon. Chopin, experienced in the Alaska Bush, is seconded to the FBI, going undercover at Baird Air. To their mutual surprise, he discovers Kate, still locked in her grief, working for Jacob Baird. With Chopin shot after a clandestine search of the Kosygin and in hospital, she reluctantly decides "...the least she could do was make a stab at finding out why someone had put him there. 'The least she could do' sounded better than 'back in the world.' She took another breath and then did it, took that step over the line to move from passive observer to active participant." (149-50)

Stabenow shows everything in MIDNIGHT COME AGAIN through either Chopin or Kate's eyes, giving each a well-developed back story. Characterization, always strong in this series, is outstanding. Kate's wolf-husky hybrid Mutt is an appealing recurring character: "Mutt lifted her lip at Casey [FBI], and they left. Casey watched the two of hem walk away until they were out of sight. They moved together with the unconscious assurance of a long-time relationship, the way she'd seen some human partners move on the job, secure in the knowledge that competent backup was available should it be required. The fangs on that hound had to be two inches long. Casey decided she'd rater face down a perp high on angel dust holding a nine-millimeter Smith & Wesson than that hound when she was pissed off." (139-40) Because the action occurs in Bering, the Park Rats are absent, though Stabenow creates another community of believable individuals, my favorite of whom is ten-year-old Stephanie Chevak, a Yupic girl determined to design and fly spacecraft.

Kate's re-investment in life is at least as important as the mystery in MIDNIGHT COME AGAIN. The FBI reveals the identity of the thieves to Chopin when he goes TDY in Bering, but ramifications to the original theft that add new personnel maintain interest.

One of Stabenow's great strengths is her ability to evoke sense of place, not just geographical features but the history, people, and ethos of Alaska. "The candidate...gave an impressive reading of the Declaration of Independence, punctuated by enthusiastic and rebellious outcries from the crowd. He knew his audience, did Senator Christopher Overmore of District S. These were Bush dwellers of whom many had settled in Bering because it was as far as they could get from the federal government, from government of any kind, and to which happy estate many others had been born and were glad to remain. Anything said against government interference in local affairs, state or federal, would be roundly welcomed, even if it was two-hundred-and-twenty years old." (200)

MIDNIGHT COME AGAIN satisfies as it establishes new possibilities in Kate's life. (solid A)
 
Ben Rehder's "Dog Tag" is a short story addition to his long-running Blanco County series set in Texas. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Glen, homeowner in an upscale gated community, is driven mad by the constant barking of the beagle belonging to the gorgeous redhead next door. The dog's barked constantly since she moved in six months before. He hires his landscaper Antonio Jones, former gang member and ex-con, to "take care of the problem." Meanwhile in Blanco County, barbecue mogul Owen Pierce hires good ole boys Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock to steal back his beloved beagle Teddy, taken by beautiful red-haired ex-wife Jasmine in their divorce settlement. She'd taken him of spite, hadn't liked Teddy; she'd wanted a Pomeranian. Then ensues a dognapping comedy of errors in which Red finally devises a cunning plan, one that's even legal and successful, to recover Teddy. The denouement is satisfyingly ironic.

"Dog Tag" uses a conversational narrative style that fits the protagonists well. Rehder continues the mutation of Red and Billy Don, originally cartoon rednecks dumb, lazy, and lawless, into more believable individuals. I particularly like that the knowledge Billy Don acquires through his iPhone and his growing confidence make him more equal in the duo's relationship.

"Dog Tag" is good fun. (A)
 
CHRISTMAS AT LONGBOURN is Karen Aminadra's Yuletide variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It begins at Longbourn 21 November 1815, with the action continuing through Christmas. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Still unmarried and with few prospects, Mary and Kitty Bennet both hurt: Mary because she's realized that she's boring and uninteresting, and her sister because the widowed Lydia Wickham has poached and married Sir Percival Etheridge, who'd been courting Kitty. Their mother's remarks, especially her gloating over Lydia's scandalous second marriage, add to their misery. When Uncle Phillips's gout leaves his clerk Walter Hodgson swamped with work, Mary and Kitty volunteer to organize and file paperwork, mainly to get away from Longbourn and have something to occupy their minds. Walking and taking refuge from the cold in the church near Longbourn, they also meet sympathetic new vicar Henry Summers. The worst winter in memory cancels the Meryton Christmas assembly, so Mrs. Bennet holds an evening party to entertain the neighbors. With the Darcys visiting the Bingleys at Netherfield, the Bennets expect a traditional family Christmas. But another massive snow storm changes their plans and ensures Mary and Kitty's happiness.

In CHRISTMAS AT LONGBOURN neither Mary nor Kitty is particularly attractive, though Mary is marginally more dynamic than her sister. She sets about changing her attitude and behavior, and she learns to cope better with her mother. Kitty is more like Mrs. Bennet, wanting constant attention and wallowing in self-pity. She pulls a major TSTL when she leaves Longbourn clandestinely to walk in knee-deep snow and bitter cold, thereby precipitating a perilous search. She achieves her goal to garner sympathy and attention, never acknowledging the danger in which she'd placed the searchers. She remains superficial. Jane and Elizabeth play no significant part in the action, while Darcy and Bingley's role is to deal with the consequences of the weather; Lydia and Sir Percival are discussed in absentia. Aminadra's introduced suitors too perfectly fit the Bennet sisters' needs to be believable.

Editing problems include consistent spelling the village as "Merryton". Sir William Lucas is "Lord Lucas" whenever named. Mary plays dance tunes for "her younger cousins" at the evening party, but there is no mention of the Gardiners. Mr. Collins is the only cousin named as present. What cousins? Likewise, her nephews play on the floor under the table with young William Collins, but young Charles Bingley had been born in the summer and young Willisam Darcy some two months later; the young Darcy is referred to as newborn. Babies on a cold floor, supposedly playing with balls? Medicine may taste "vile" but is stored in a "vial." Religious references are heavy-handed. Most of all, Lydia's notification of Wickham's death comes in a telegram? I doubt it.

CHRISTMAS AT LONGBOURN has largely undeveloped potential. (C)
 
Bill Crider's short story "The Adventure of the Christmas Bear" is based on the Sherlock Holmes-Doctor John H. Watson characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally published in 1999, the story is included in Crider's anthology EIGHT ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, issued in digital format in 2017.

The action occurs two days before Christmas when Oscar Wilde consults Holmes about an attempt on his life. He'd been shoved into the path of a runaway carriage, barely escaping being hit; Wilde is more than usually concerned because he says he'd been pushed by a bear. He associates bears with violence to himself because, years before during his American tour, he'd seen bears associated with the violent death of a buffalo hunter who threatened him. Instead, the buffalo hunter died, and his partner fled. Can Holmes identify the threat and find the bear before Wilde dies?

Christmas elements besides the date in "The Adventure of the Christmas Bear" include Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah that begins "For unto us a child is born," and the probability The Wolf Shall Lie Down with the Lamb coming literally to pass. The threat against Wilde is tenuous, grafted onto the drama to account for the appearance of a bear. The story lacks unity and, aside from a Wilde-Holmes debate on the nature of truth and where it may be found, characterization. Disappointing. (C)
 
THE MATCHMAKER'S CHRISTMAS is Laura Hile's novella with protagonists from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but including characters from Emma and Mansfield Park. It is part of the digital anthology A VERY AUSTEN CHRISTMAS published in 2017.

I am whimsy-impaired, so I see THE MATCHMAKER'S CHRISTMAS as a hodgepodge. Events happen without rhyme or reason, including a bridge washing out to prevent Charles Bingley leaving Hertfordshire after the ball, Caroline Bingley coming down with mumps, and the arrival of Emma Woodhouse, Miss Henrietta Bates, and Tom Bertram. They have an invitation in Bingley's handwriting that invites them for Christmas, but he swears he did not write it. Exposed to Caroline's mumps, Elizabeth and Jane Bennet must pass remain at Netherfield until danger of infection is past. Emma plans to use her match-making expertise. Later arrivals include Mr. Elton, Mr. Collins, George Wickham, and Mr. Knightley. Emma, Knightley, Darcy, and Elizabeth all recognize the role of Aunt Jane Austen who creates and may erase or change their behavior.

While many may enjoy this fantastic melange of characters and author, I prefer at least an element of verisimilitude. THE MATCHMAKER'S CHRISTMAS with Aunt Jane Austen as visible deus ex machina relieves Hile from having to tell a coherent story. No grade because of my lack of objectivity.
 
NO BETTER GIFT is a Wendi Sotis novella variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in 2017 as part of the digital anthology A VERY AUSTEN CHRISTMAS.

When Fitzwilliam Darcy, en route to spend Christmas at Matlock with his family, passes through Meryton, he is surprised to find the village deserted, shops and houses closed up. Neither man he sees tells him what's happened. He stops at Netherfield to retrieve a forgotten gift for Georgiana, to discover the house apparently empty but Elizabeth Bennet busy mucking out the stable stalls. She and a maid from Longbourn are tending sixteen patients quarantined at Netherfield for an outbreak of chickenpox. The children progress well, but the adults, who include George Wickham, the apothecary, and eventually Mr. Bennet, are seriously ill. Bingley, notified by the apothecary that most of the patients are his tenants and servants, has not responded; Caroline Bingley sent a single basket of food, £5 for the apothecary, and a letter saying to expect nothing more. Elizabeth, who'd experienced chickenpox in childhood, assumes care for the sick. Darcy, outraged at the Bingleys, remains at Netherfield to nurse the sick, provide supplies and medical aid, and thereby convince Elizabeth of his worthiness.

Characters are faithful to the original. Action is believable. Providing Christmas for those patients who may miss being with their families is important. NO BETTER GIFT is warm and cozy, ideal accompaniment for a cup of hot chocolate on a cold afternoon. (A-)
 
MISTLETOE AT THORNTON LACEY is Barbara Cornthwaite's novella variant on Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. It is available in digital format, published in 2017 in the anthology A VERY AUSTEN CHRISTMAS.

Some months after Tom Bertram's illness and the scandals involving his sisters, he and Susan Price, who now lives at Mansfield Park, agree that Edmund Bertram and Fanny Price would be an ideal couple. They won't overtly match make, but they will encourage opportunities for Edmund and Fanny to communicate. To that end, Tom persuades Edmund to host the family for a Christmas stay at Thornton Lacey; Tom and Susan decorate the parsonage, including kissing boughs they hope will inspire Edmund. Edmund meanwhile sorts his feelings for Mary Crawford, meditates on the qualities he wants in a wife, sees Fanny admired by another man, and realizes his love for her. His failures to find the privacy to propose to Fanny are humorous.

Characters in MISTLETOE AT THORNTON LACEY are satisfactory continuations of the originals. Tom Bertram has matured and works to restore his reputation; Susan Price is pleasant and sensible; Fanny shows more confidence and authority; Sir Thomas is less proud, and Lady Bertram less indolent. Their actions are believably Austen. The badly behaved--Mrs. Norris, Julia and Yates, Maria, Mary and Henry Crawford--are referred to but not involved in the story. No angst or high drama, just a cozy visit with old friends, including Pug. (A)
 
HOW THE FINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! is Donna Andrews's 2017 holiday entry in her long-running Meg Langslow series set in Caerphilly, Virginia.

Meg is run off her feet between her "part time" jobs as aMayor Randall Shiffley's overseer of Caerphilly's tourist-attracting Christmas celebrations and as assistant director to husband Michael Waterston's production of A Christmas Carol. This year the play stars 1980s TV actor Malcolm Haver, an obnoxious drunk whose unreliability threatens the production. She has a smaller problem with her grandfather, noted naturalist Dr. J. Montgomery Blake, whose zoo is rehabilitating Gouldian finches seized from animal smugglers by the US Fish and Wildlife Service; he's slipping finches into the theater's Twelve Days of Christmas decorations as "calling birds." Meg's desperate to cut Haver off from his source. When she follows him to an isolated farm, Meg discovers a barnful of exotic animals, a golden retriever puppy mill, a houseful of cats, an old woman in a wheelchair, and the bootlegger. While local authorities rescue the animals the next day, Meg discovers the body of Haver's supplier, shot in the head. Haver, one of the last to have seen the man alive, promptly disappears. Is he involved in the murder? Can the production be saved?

The things I enjoy so much in the early books in the Meg Langslow series are missing in HOW THE FINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! Sense of place is generic, the ambiance of the South with its distinctive story-telling voice gone. The play on words of the title seems the inspiration for a conglomeration of unrelated incidents.

Continuing characters are static, the only new development the acting skills of the Waterston twins Josh and Jamie, now ten years old, in the roles of the young Scrooge and Tiny Tim. Malcolm Haver is standard out-of-control has-been actor, a reprise of Alan Swann, played by Peter O'Toole in 1982's My Favorite Year. As Swann's love for his daughter motivates him toward sobriety, so does Haver's love for Gouldian finch Fiona.

Too many included Caerphilly residents serve little purpose. Despite their inclusion, there is a dearth of viable suspects. Identifying the killer becomes a process of elimination delayed only by Andrews's clever use of readers' preconceived ideas. Quantity seems to have replaced quality in the series. (C)
 
Mary Lawrence's MARY AND THE CAPTAIN, while not seasonally titled, is a Christmas variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2017.

Caroline Bingley, to promote a match between her brother Captain Robert Bingley with her best friend Miss Helena Paget, niece of the Earl of Berkridge, arranges for them to spend Christmas at Netherfield. They, she, and the unmarried Bennet sisters will be guests of Jane and Charles Bingley, but Caroline is determined that Kitty and Mary will not interfere with her scheme. Robert Bingley, already infatuated, will have two weeks in which to court and propose to Miss Paget, who means to accept. Caroline's plan begins to unravel when Robert, forced to spend Christmas Eve night on the road at a ramshackle inn, discovers a young servant being mistreated by the owner; unable to get the boy out of his mind, Robert returns the next day with Mary to find the child freshly beaten. Taking him back to Netherfield exposes the good and bad natures of its inhabitants: Robert, Charles, Jane, Mary, and Kitty caring and kind to Daniel, Caroline and Helena unfeeling and incensed at his presence. But is the young orphan more than a mere stable boy?

There are many things to like about MARY AND THE CAPTAIN. Lawrence's writing style is formal enough to evoke Austen without being stuffy. Another is the editing. I saw only one homophone mistake--a "peace" of her mind, rather than "piece." A third is the compact time scale, less than a month, focused on the two weeks of Robert Bingley's Christmas leave, enough time for character revelations and believable change, but not long enough to feel padded. Another is the realism of the plot. Given the personalities involved, the story lines--Robert's courtship of Miss Paget, the developing feelings between Robert and Mary, Daniel's rescue--are believable.

Lawrence develops most characters to reveal personality traits hinted at by Austen. Charles Bingley encourages Robert to follow his heart in spite of Caroline's displeasure; Jane mostly complies with Caroline's social dictates; Kitty longs to see Captain Bingley in full dress uniform. Mary, once she overcomes her shyness with the captain, reveals a spirit much like that of sister Elizabeth, intelligent, spirited, eager for adventure.

Caroline Bingley opens as her spiteful, social-climbing, scheming self: "...the books we read as children are not at all the same as the books we read as adults. My choice in reading has been refined considerably since my youth, a result, no doubt, of careful training by an exemplary governess and my vast experience of the world. It has given me a certain distinction and delicate discernment that one cannot acquire but through careful cultivation." (232) She grows under the vicar's influence. Lawrence makes Caroline's increased social conscience believable by giving her firsthand experience with a poor family, while love for her brother leads her to abandon schemes for Robert's marriage. Cautious optimism that Caroline may eventually evolve into a decent human being seems justified.

Lawrence is admirably economical in the use of new characters. Helena Paget, Robert Bingley, the widowed Mrs. Doyle and young Emma, Daniel, Reverend John Penrose, and the Marquess of Rainham are the important introductions. She uses indirect characterization skillfully to establish distinct personalities.

Two reservations. One is the Daniel storyline. It is reminiscent of the bonding of Beaumaris and Arabella over the chimney sweep's boy Jimmy in Georgette Heyer's Arabella published in 1949. The second is Caroline and Helena's lack of knowledge of the Boxing Day custom of giving gifts to servants and tenants; they regard it as a unique tradition, one that reveals the Bennets' lack of social sophistication.

MARY AND THE CAPTAIN is one of the best written Pride and Prejudice variants I've seen. Kudos to Mary Lawrence. (solid A)
 
Kara Louise's anthology PEMBERLEY CELEBRATIONS--THE FIRST YEAR, first published in 2002 and reissued in digital format in 2011, is a series of short story sequels to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Its first five stories all occur between December and New Year's Eve. The stories covering the rest of the calendar are reviewed elsewhere.

All are slice-of-life, family events experienced by the newly-wed Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy at Pemberley with his sister Georgiana, as they enjoy the winter season and prepare for Christmas. With no great angst or drama, the stories read like reports containing a minimum of dialogue and direct action.

"Decorating Pemberley for Christmas" occurs the second week in December when Elizabeth observes the gardeners bringing in a giant evergreen to decorate for Christmas. Years before, Mr. Darcy, Senior, observed decorated trees in Germany during his Grand Tour and brought the custom to Pemberley. While they decorate the tree, Mrs. Reynolds relates to Elizabeth the story of the death of Fitzwilliam's mother on Christmas Day and the family''s token celebration thereafter. Elizabeth resolves to restore the Darcys' enjoyment of the season.

"A Special Christmas Dinner" focuses on Christmas dinner for the Pemberley servants on December 19. To express the family's gratitude for their loyalty and service, Elizabeth convinces Darcy that the family should do more than make a token appearance. She and Georgiana cook special treats for the upper servants, and Darcy helps to serve them.

"A Christmas Surprise" opens December 20 when Elizabeth and Georgiana deliver gift baskets to some of the tenants not employed at Pemberley. The next day Darcy gives Elizabeth and Georgiana an early gift--ice skates. The pond is completely frozen, so he teaches Elizabeth to skate. The lesson is detailed ad nauseam.

"A Family Christmas" opens on December 22 with Elizabeth facing her first Christmas away from family and Longbourn. The Bingleys are entertaining Caroline, the Hursts, and the Bennets at Netherfield, and the Gardiners expect company in London. She hopes for snow, but Darcy seems nervous about the possibility. His anxiety is explained when the Bennets, the Gardiners, and the newly-wed Bingleys all arrive. When their previous plans fell through, Darcy organizes the family Christmas house party as a surprise for Elizabeth.

"New Year's Eve" has the Darcys in London for two weeks to introduce Elizabeth to his London friends at the Moffeys' ball on that date. He discloses the scandal created some four years before when he refused to marry Jocelyn Moffey's sister Joanna Mandrake as Society expected. He's not seen Miss Mandrake since her lies created the imbroglio. Mrs. Moffey arranges a confrontation between her sister and Darcy.

All these stories contain anachronistic elements. None of the characters are much developed. Darcy back stories told to Elizabeth by Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Moffey, while enlightening, are insufficient to carry much Christmas spirit. (D)
 
A KNIFE AT THE OPERA is the second book in Susannah Stacey's Superintendent Bone mystery series. Originally published in 1988, it does not appear to be available in digital format but, like many of the older series, inexpensive secondhand print editions are readily available. This series is well worth pursuing.

Superintendent R. B. Bone of the Tunbridge Wells CID is attending a student performance of The Beggar's Opera at his daughter's school when Claire Fairlie is discovered backstage, stabbed to death. Producer of the drama, she'd been preparing to replace onstage student Mairi Leggatt, fed amphetamines to prevent her performance; with Miss Fairlie dead, Beverly Braun, originally scheduled for the role and replaced by Miss Fairlie's new favorite, becomes the star of the show. Investigation shows Miss Fairlie as the focus of much resentment--she took credit for the work of others, took up and abandoned people, gossiped and criticized, led men on--but who wanted her dead, and why during the performance?

Stacey plays on a convention in mystery publishing and on readers' preconceptions to hide the killer's identity and motive. The problem motivating the murder is more relevant today than in 1988. I can't say more without doing a spoiler. Perhaps to convey Bone's confused situation with its masses of students and teachers in motion, Stacey introduces a multitude of characters who are otherwise nonessential.

Stacey has a believably complex protagonist in Bone, a man with genuine emotional baggage from the death of his wife and infant son and a loving relationship with his young teenaged daughter Charlotte who survived the car crash but with a limp and some speech impairment. Detective Inspector Steve Locker is both friend and subordinate.

Stacey is skilled at using setting, especially atmosphere, to reveal Bone's character. A KNIFE AT THE OPERA is set at Christmas, but its representation is more realistic than sugarcoated, as in most holiday-themed books. "Two thousand years of celebrating peace on earth, and the police were still arresting murderers... People get on with their lives, taking notice of the Christmas message about as much as they did of the amplifiers blaring out carols on the street, and objecting if it got too intrusive. Christmas was a time when people were forced into proximity with those whom they successfully avoided the rest of the year. Drink relaxed their inhibitions. The family, that pressure-cooker of emotion, was set to blow... It was a time, perhaps, when people aw what mostly they tried not to see, the gap between what they believed they should feel and what in fact they felt." (185-6) Nevertheless, Bone, Charlotte, and rambunctious kitten Ziggy enjoy a satisfying Christmas Day.

A KNIFE AT THE OPERA is a good read. (A-)
 
HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM THE DARCYS is Barbara Silverstone's novella variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, moved to the present and set on Christmas Eve. It was published in digital format in 2015.

I am seriously whimsy-challenged, so HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM THE DARCYS pushes my buttons. Quotation marks open but do not always close dialogue. Lizzy Bennet Darcy is an intrusive first-person narrator who hints at previous events more interesting than the current story. (How and why has Caroline Bingley been confined in the convent of Our Lady of Perpetual Patience in Scotland? What is Darcy's secret identity?) She drops luxury brand names. She uses present tense verbs and mixes metaphors. She wears pink poodle slippers that communicate with Darcy when she's too embarrassed to speak directly.

The story line, covering the events of the Darcys' Christmas Eve celebration with family and friends, is disjointed, a mishmash of traditional elements and modern allusions. Darcy has a holodeck that Lizzy says surpasses the Starship Enterprise, while the Jones family reflects the Cratchits, with Mr. Jones too poor to keep up payments to the goose club. (See Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.") The family's Christmas dinner the previous year had been a codfish. Mother Petunia Jones has a sister Hyacinth who's reminiscent of Mrs. Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet"). In Mr. Bennet' story for the Jones children, the girls for whom the original Saint Nicholas provided dowries are the Bennet daughters. There's even a hint of Disney's The Lady and the Tramp when Lizzie's borzoi Boris falls in love with Cavalier King Charles spaniel Belle St. Clair. Enough already.

No grade because I can't be objective about what appears to me saccharine drivel.
 
A MERRY DARCY CHRISTMAS is Emma Dow's holiday variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Available in free or inexpensive digital format, it was published in 2016.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh dispatches Mr. Collins to Longbourn in November 1812 to invite Elizabeth Bennet to Rosings for the Christmas season. Suspicious of the lady's motive wanting her presence, Elizabeth is forced to accept because Mr. Collins has already extended the invitation to Mrs. Bennet and her three other unmarried daughters. It's too good an opportunity for husband-hunting for her mother to pass up, and at least Fitzwiliam Darcy won't be there. She's not seen him since the morning after his insulting proposal at Hunsford when she refused to accept his letter. He's in London on business designed to increase hia cash reserves so that, when Georgiana marries, payment of her £30,000 dowry won't drain Pemberley; the additional income also will allow him to marry for love, not money. His plans change when he discovers that Lady Catherine de Bourgh means to use the National Enclosure Act to fence the common land at Rosings, displacing tenants and laborers he's known from childhood. He goes to Rosings for Christmas, taking with him Georgiana and, at Caroline's insistent hinting, the Bingley party. His aunt has already invited his friends Lord Northover and Mr. Pettigrew. When Darcy arrives at Rsings, he finds Lady Catherine's price for calling off the enclosure is his announcement of his engagement to Anne at the Twelfth Night ball. He soon learns that his aunt has offered the financially strapped Lord Northover a substantial fortune to court and marry Elizabeth Bennet. Can Lady Catherine's machinations be thwarted?

Lord Northover and Mr. Pettigrew (no Christian names given) are the only important additions to the canonical characters. Lord Northover's purpose in the plot is as a horrible example of what happens to an estate when due attention is not given to the size of daughters' dowries and the need for heirs to marry for wealth. Lack of cash forces him to sell Hardwick Park bit by bit. Mr. Pettigrew is self-made, a fabulously rich textile manufacturer who's advising Darcy on diversifying his holdings.

I do have some reservations about Dow's take on Regency manners and Austen's characters. Is it likely that Darcy, Northover, and Pettigrew discuss their business dealings in detail at a meal with Georgiana present? Would Darcy just announce to his aunt, who's already booked at least seven other visitors, that he's arriving with five more people? Is it appropriate that Darcy distribute his own Boxing Day gifts to Rosings' tenants since Lady Catherine (apparently) does not? How probable is Mr. Collins's failure to denounce Elizabeth Bennet for spending Boxing Day alone with Darcy in a carriage as they deliver the gifts?

Lady Catherine de Bourgh's attempt to blackmail Darcy into marrying Anne is a reasonable extension of Austen's original. However, Dow's Lady Catherine giving her new steward McGinty final say on estate decisions is unrealistic because she'd never give up that much control. Dow never explains why Lady Catherine invites Mr. Pettigrew to Rosings, where she even seats him at the head table while she relegates the Bennets and the Bingleys to secondary places. He may be wealthy, but he has no social connections and is active in Trade. An authentic Lady Catherine would condemn him for trying to move out of the sphere into which he'd been born, and she'd never be taken in by the lovers' Shakespearean ruse at the Twelfth Night ball.

A MERRY DARCY CHRISTMAS is a feel-good Christmas read. (B)
 
"Christmas, Corpses, and Clockwork Kittens" is a Christmas short story by L. A. Nisula. It's set in Mayfair during the Christmas season, with references to a hansom cab and to steam-powered and clockwork automata as the only guide to period. It was published in digital format in 2016.

The first person narrator is Kate Ferris; she and her partner Ada run a tinkering shop. When they discover the body of a young man dumped on their doorstep, they backtrack in the direction from which he'd come to locate the crime scene and the killer.

Ferris's remarks indicate this is not their first exposure to murder, and she clearly knows the personality and work habits of Inspector Wainwright. The women have no reason to investigate the murder except sheer curiosity. There's almost no characterization beyond names. Solving the crime depends on coincidence. The title, references to their kits as potential Christmas gifts, and a steam-powered Father Christmas figure, none of which are essential to the plot, seem tacked on to appeal to the seasonal reader.

Why bother? (F)l
 
THE HIGHWAYMAN is the fourteenth book in Craig Johnson's outstanding Walt Longmire mystery series. A novella, it was published in e-book format in 2016. I incorrectly classified it as a Christmas-themed story but, by the time I discovered my mistake, I was too interested to quit reading. I don't claim objectivity about this series. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear are in the Wind River Canyon area to help a friend Rosey Wayman, Wyoming Highway Patrol. Her captain requires she be psychiatrically evaluated because she's reported multiple calls on the WHP frequency, always at 12:34 AM, "Unit 3, 10-78, officer needs assistance." Unit 3 is her sector, previously covered by retired Mike Harlow and before him, Bobby Womack, legendary as the Highwayman, the first Arapaho state trooper. Rosey's heard tapes of Bobby's voice, which she recognizes as the radio caller, but he's been dead for over thirty years. He'd died under a cloud of suspicion as a participant in a robbery involving 1888-O double-strike Morgan silver dollars, in what many thought a suicide when he pulled into the path of a runaway tanker carrying aviation fuel. No one else has heard the transmissions. Twice Rosey finds 1888-O silver dollars at the scene of traffic fatalities near the north tunnel on Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway, where Bobby had died. Is she losing her mind, is some human agency at work, or, just possibly, .....?

Characterization is outstanding. Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, and old friend Henry Standing Bear, "the Cheyenne Nation," are appealing pair. Longmire, as first person narrator, is believably complex, dedicated: "...I've seen some amazing things in this life, some things I can't explain, but I'm not willing to go with the out-of-this-world supposition until it's been proved to me that it's not of this world. That's part of our jobs, to find answers, and I'm not willing to throw up my hands and say there are none until I'm sure there aren't any." (139) Supporting characters are distinctive. One of Johnson's strengths is his ability to establish an individual succinctly: "Kimana was an Arapaho medicine woman with a Shoshone name who gave the impression of being a thousand years old, and people generally did what she told them to do because she wore them down, like a glacier." (7-8)

Johnson integrates plot with setting so that the action could happen only in that time and place. He evokes authentic locales: "There is a canyon in the heart of Wyoming carved by a river called Wind and a narrow, opposing two-lane highway that follow its every curve like a lover. Traveling north through rolling flats, there is a windswept, rocky terrain that stands like a fortress next to the shores of the Boysen Reservoir with icy blue water that reflects the Owl Creek Mountains, looking as if they might run to the Arctic Circle. At this point, there are three living-rock tunnels that enter the canyon in a row--rough, incongruous... Once out of these vintage boreholes, surrounded by granite walls towering 2,500 feet on either side, there are some of the most ancient rock formations in the w2017orld. The Precambrian cliffs glowed pink in the late-afternoon sun..." (1-2)

THE HIGHWAYMAN is excellent. (A)
 
'TIS THE SEASON FOR MATCHMAKING is P. O. Dixon's Christmas sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It is available in free or inexpensive digital format, published in 2017.

Elizabeth Bennet Darcy's plans for a quiet family house party for her first Christmas at Pemberley. Her parents, Kitty, and Mary, and her aunt Lady Vanessa Barrett (Mr. Bennet's sister) will join Darcy, Georgiana, and herself in Derbyshire for the holidays. Darcy also hosts the Fitzwilliam family celebration, adding Lord and Lady Matlock and sons Robert (the heir) and Richard. Elizabeth invites Lady Clarissa with her son Lord Andrew Holland and the Lancasters with daughter Lucy, to encourage the attachment between Lucy and Andrew. Then the plans go awry. The move from Matlock brings along Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Anne, and Mrs. Jenkinson to Derbyshire. Lady Catherine, to cause trouble for Elizabeth, orders Mr. Collins to insist on his and Charlotte's right to attend the Bennet gathering. Lady Barrett, charmed by letters from Lydia Bennet Wickham, invites the Wickhams without consulting the Darcys. Then the Bingley party--Charles, Caroline, and the Hursts--en route to their family in Scarborough, stop to allow Caroline to recuperate from travel sickness developed just as they reached the Pemberley neighborhood. The mothers scheme over the two Viscounts and Bingley, the men discuss dowries and horses, while Lucy fumes over Caroline Bingley's determined pursuit of Andrew Holland.

'TIS THE SEASON FOR MATCHMAKING uses Christmas as a plot device to assemble a highly unlikely combination of characters; there's no sense of Christmas spirit, no gifts, no decorations, no special celebrations. The most seasonal element is Darcy's failed plan for a ride on a decorated sleigh as part of a surprise for Elizabeth on Christmas Eve morning.

'TIS THE SEASON FOR MATCHMAKING changes so much that it's more accurately a novel using names of Austen's characters than sequel. Dixon presumes familiarity with a previous story which introduces Lady Barrett, the Hollands, and the Lancasters and brings Elizabeth and Darcy together. Jane Bennet is dead without having met Bingley. The sheer number of characters makes the plot a series of brief disjointed episodes; intriguing possible actions must be abandoned. The story fizzles out with no effective resolution.

Dixon adds so many new characters and uses so many of the originals that none are well developed. Lydia, Mrs. Bennet, Lady Catherine, Mr. Collins, and Caroline are reasonably faithful to the originals. Elizabeth becomes a sentimental Pollyanna, and Darcy is either furious (over Wickham and Caroline) or frivolous (with Elizabeth). Both are too weak to deal with presumptuous guests. Attitudes and behavior are more modern than Regency.

Two things bother me. The lesser involves Lord Holland's name. Is he Avery, or is his name Andrew? The larger involves Regency manners. Is it acceptable for a guest to invite others to attend a house party without consulting the host and hostess or, like Mr. Collins, to attend without having been invited?

'TIS THE SEASON FOR MATCHMAKING is closer to the first half of How the Grinch Stole Christmas than to anything written by Jane Austen. (D)
 
"A Twist of Fate" is Brenda J. Webb's holiday short story variant on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in free or inexpensive digital format in 201

Mr. Bennet died in the summer of 1812; Mr. Collins immediately evicted he Bennet women from Longbourn. Two years later the Bennet women are living in poverty in a four-room converted stables on Gracechurch Street--Mrs. Bennet, her five unmarried daughters, and Susan, Lydia's illegitimate daughter by George Wickham. Mr. Gardiner pays their rent, but he's too financially strapped for much more. The family survives on the money Elizabeth earns as night caregiver to an elderly invalid and by the sale of personal items retained from their previous life. Jane is too ill to continue working. To pay bills and provide food for Christmas, Elizabeth goes to Horace Blaylock's shop to sell her last valuable possession--hair combs of pearl, onyx, and gold, given her by her grandmother. Blaylock hopes to sell them to a thrifty Colonel who's looking for a special gift. As they leave, Elizabeth and Jane see and are seen by Colonel Fitzwilliam and Fitzwilliam Darcy. The men extract their story from Blaylock, and Darcy forms a cunning plan to provide Christmas for the family. With assistance from the Colonel, Darcy and Elizabeth soon resolve their misconceptions.

Characters are faithful to Austen's originals, especially Mrs. Bennet, who insists n breakfast in bed (served by Kitty, who's acting kitchen maid) and Lydia, who whines and demands her own way. There is no doubt about the outcome. The title is Elizabeth and Darcy's explanation of their meeting so fortuitously at Blaylock's.

Warm, cozy, not especially memorable. (C)
 
Alexa Adams's "Mr. Darcy's Christmas Present" is a holiday-themed short story using character and place names from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was published in free or inexpensive digital format in 2017.

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are married, both old enough that they doubt they'll have children. Darcy had been an in-patient at Dr. Wilson's Ramsey House asylum where Elizabeth worked a nurse for more than a decade; he still suffers from anxiety, nightmares, and insomnia, requiring medication and constant observation. Scarred and left wheelchair bound by Darcy, George Wickham, now a friend, lives in a cottage at Pemberley. Georgiana is dead. When Elizabeth discovers that she is pregnant, Darcy has a melt down, then endures months of anxiety, fearing that he will lose Elizabeth in childbirth.

"Mr. Darcy's Christmas Present" is so changed that calling it a variant on Pride and Prejudice misrepresents its content. Attitudes, especially treatment of mental patients, is modern rather than Regency. Lady Priscilla Wilson, the doctor's wife, functions as a psychiatric social worker. Whether a scandal involving an abusive nurse at Ramsey House involved Darcy and Anne de Bourgh (now wife of Richard, Lord Matlock), both of whom had been patients, is not disclosed. Nor are the circumstances of Darcy's attack on Wickham and of Georgiana's death. To accommodate Wickham and young Thomas Woodsley, a tenant's son who's to be trained as steward but is unable to walk, Darcy oversees making Pemberley wheelchair accessible. There's almost no characterization, minimal suspense, and little sense of place--generic all the way.

Two glitches in editing stand out. One is Elizabeth in labor being handled "differentially" by her maid. The maid treating her "deferentially" is preferable to Elizabeth possessing a transmission. The second is, who is Miss Cordelia Jones? The text implies she's daughter of Jane and Charles Bingley, so why then the name?

Don't bother. (F)
 
BILBURY REVELS is the third book in Vernon Coleman's Young Country Doctor series set in Bilbury, a Devon village. Originally published in 1994, it was reissued in digital format in 2014. I was misled by its opening in a blizzard and the singing of Christmas songs (at a midsummer revue, but they're the only three songs for which the singer knew all the words) into believing it was set during the holiday season. By the time I recognized the mistake, I was too hooked to quit reading.

When in a blizzard School Cottage's chimney brings the roof and second floor bedroom down into the living room, the sleeping teacher Miss Hargreaves is not physically hurt. The severely damaged cottage is not covered by school insurance since it is leased to the teacher, who has no insurance. Unless the cottage is rebuilt, the board will close Bilbury's school. To coordinate fund raising, the Bilbury Village School Cottage Rebuilding Fund is established. Meanwhile during the spring Coleman is caught up in the efforts to promote his first book, introducing him to the world of publicity. The committee devises many money-making events, the most important of which are the resurrection of the Old Bilburians Cricket Club, the Bilbury Revue (including the Bilbury Ladies Amateur Cancan and Exotic Dancing Troupe), and the Bilbury Village Produce Show.

The plot is slice of life, with villagers going about their daily activities in which plans often go humorously awry. Action in BILBURY REVELS is reminiscent of both James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and Roy Clarke's Last of the Summer Wine.

One of Coleman's strengths is his ability to establish his landscape. "The snow in Bilbury was deep and crisp but it definitely wasn't even. The wind had seen to that. The wind that scours the North Devon coast, shaping trees and moulding hedgerows, removing roofs and whipping up the sea, isn't one of those balmy south coast breezes. It's tough, unwavering, unrelenting, real god of a wind. ... The wind is so fierce that rain in Bilbury doesn't fall vertically; it comes in from the West, driven horizontally and finding its way through invisible hairline cracks in door and window frames." His Bilbury is a believable community: "...living in Devon is a bit like living in Spain. There isn't a lot of point in trying to hurry because by and large things will get done when the people doing them are ready to do them and no amount of cajoling or threatening will make any difference. Since I've lived in Bilbury, I've known of three couples who...all returned to their more familiar haunts [London] within a year, claiming that they found the slow, laid back pace of life far too stressful for them."

The main reason Bilbury is so appealing is its quirky inhabitants, one of whom is the local publican, Frank Parsons. "[Frank's] attention was...focused on the pint he was pulling. ...Frank regarded the work of transferring beer from a barrel to a glass a a craft, maybe even a minor art form. He would never allow himself to be distracted and still did not like to be reminded of the time when two tall, long legged, blonde, Swedish hikers wearing very short shorts and very skimpy tops had walked into the bar and ordered drinks and sandwiches. It was as a result of that incident that the front door of the Duck and Puddle now carried a notice, similar to the ones which appear on the outside of cathedrals all over Europe, asking female customers to dress appropriately. Frank didn't like spilling beer." I'd like to meet these people.

BILBURY REVELS (and the series so far) is good fun. (A
 
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