Question for Austen lovers...

[deborahjross]

I've read scathing comments about Death Comes to Pemberley, so much so that although I have enjoyed other books by P.D. James (albeit not recently), I hesitate to even give this a try. I understand from the reviewers that she gets the period, manners, culture utterly wrong. But if this were a completely alternate universe and these weren't factors, is it otherwise a terrible book?

Comments

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

50s mentality is a turn-off for me, no matter where one transports it to!

I knew there was a reason I stopped reading her novels, although I remembered having enjoyed the first bunch. I was much more interested in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman than any of the Dalgliesh-centered ones. But that could be the rosy tint of imperfect memory and the unlearned taste of being that age.

Funny how I get pickier and pickier as I get older.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

With James, my rule is, the longer they are, the less likely I am to like them. She doesn't get edited these days, I suspect. And as a result, the books have more problems.
I liked the Cordelia Gray books, too: until Cordelia fell in love with Dalgleish. Then it was just more author's darling character cliches.