Lead Review (A Crime Through Time)
- Book: A Crime Through Time (Miss Darcy investigates)
- Location: Derbyshire, Plymouth
- Author: Amelia Blackwell
Miss Darcy Investigates: A Crime Through Time by Amelia Blackwell is the first in a series of cosy crime novels. The premise is that Miss Georgiana Darcy – sister of the fictional Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice – is called upon to solve a crime. The twist is that we initially encounter Georgiana is1799, whereas the crime she encounters takes place in 1995. So, in addition to being a crime novel, the heroine travels in time.
The setting of the twentieth century action is in a real place, Saltram House in Plymouth, Devon. The setting of the 18th century story is the fictional Pemberley from Jane Austen’s novel, which Georgiana says is in Derbyshire. So Georgiana travels to a new location as well as a different time. The setting is described as required to further the plot but isn’t a major strength of the novel. The action is much more important.
Georgiana Darcy is leading the stifling life of a twenty-year-old woman in a well-to-do Regency household in 1799. She has little personal autonomy, having to rely on the goodwill of her brother to make any change to her life, however small. She has already been rescued from a situation which might have ruined her reputation (her story in Pride and Prejudice) and she has turned down other suitors. Currently she is trying to avoid the attentions of The Baron, who wishes to marry her but who disgusts her. Meanwhile, her sister-in-law Elizabeth is about to give birth and becomes quite ill. Georgiana is fond of Elizabeth, and this adds to her distress. She finds solace in the wild woodlands on the edge of the family estate and it is there that she discovers a strange object – one that unexpectedly propels her into the future.
Georgiana in the future is shocked and trying to adjust to what has happened when she finds a dead body in a tree. She begins to think that she is there to solve the murder. You’d think she would struggle to fit in but fortuitously there is a film of a Jane Austen novel being made and in her Regency costume she fits right in. Except that she doesn’t. Her language and lack of understanding of the 20th century put her at a significant disadvantage. By quick thinking and a bit of luck, she manages to blend in a little. She meets Quinn, a security guard on set who comes to her assistance, but can she trust him or is he in fact the murderer?
I’m not a big fan of cosy crime novels and the mixture of Jane-Austen-alike novel with a modern murder mystery took a bit of getting used to. I decided that the book was meant to be funny and that got me through the early pages, but later I felt comedy wasn’t the main aim of the book and by that stage I was quite enjoying it. The Regency language that Georgiana uses does tend to alienate her and make her a less sympathetic heroine but she eventually steps up as a 20thcentury leading lady and she grew on me. Would I read a sequel? Well yes, if only to see how the author copes with the challenge of continuing the time-travelling detective’s twin storylines. This is one for fans of Richard Osmond’s cosy crime novels and The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C L Miller.
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