Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mysteries, 1)

The premise, title, and cover first caught my attention for Pride and Premeditation. Jane Austin’s classic Pride and Prejudice has a modern-day revamp as our main character, Lizzie Bennett, solves a murder Agatha Christie style. For Regency era enthusiasts, this one is best read thinking of it as an alternative history so you can enjoy the story without getting caught on the discrepancies of decorum for that period. (The author does note that she has not tried to be accurate with this aspect.)
The story takes a moment to build action as we thoroughly explore how this period is a man’s world and is not welcoming to the female gender. Lizzie is persistent and intelligent and boldly breaks through any discrimination to uncover so much more than just one murder. While the men around her are content to do sloppy work and only focus on myopic issues, Lizzie faces two kidnappings and is almost murdered to discover the truth.
By the second murder, I was applauding myself for figuring out who one of the killers must be, but was pleasantly surprised to find that was not the full extent of the plot. Lizzie’s courtroom debut was satisfying although upon further thought might have had a few plot holes. The most compelling evidence that she built up was the button she found at the crime scene that perfectly matched the person she was accused of being the murderer. However, an earlier discussion of why the accused was innocent was about the blood smear on his clothes and the killer would have had blood splatter. If the killer was splattered from 11 violent stabbings, my question is how the coat comes clean enough to still be used in polite society and not discarded for a new one, in which case that button reveals that the case was cemented with would not be possible.
Overall, the action midway through the book till the end was engaging. I enjoyed the beginnings of the enemies-to-lovers dynamic between Lizzie and Mr. Darcy and look forward to that heating up in subsequent books. The period made for a fun background to set our headstrong and intelligent protagonist on the path of being a great detective.