Pride and Premeditation - Tirzah Price

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, except it's a murder mystery! I will read any retelling of P&P, especially the weird ones that bring something special to the table. In this book we have all of the same characters, but Mr. Bennet is a barrister and Lizzie is an aspiring lawyer. But of course she's never given the chance to do the work she wants because she's a girl. When Mr. Bingley gets accused of murdering his brother-in-law, Lizzie sees it as her chance to prove herself, but unfortunately Bingley has already hired a lawyer - Mr. Darcy.

This is definitely not a straight retelling, because the main plot is quite different. It's a lot more focused on solving a murder than romance, and a lot of the familiar beats of the original are missing. The characters are recognizable, with some differences because they're in different situations. Lots of nods to the original story, though, and I didn't mind the differences much because it kept the story fresh, and I didn't know what would happen.

This is the author's debut, and she's also the host of a podcast I always listen to, so she feels like my friend! But it did feel very much like a debut - the core of it was good, but the execution still felt a bit amateur. It's also YA, so Lizzie is 17 - that is the right age, but it still felt weird. It was still very fun though, and I would read another Austen-inspired murder mystery.