Recent Reads {The Matters at Mansfield}

The Matters at Mansfield, Or, The Crawford Affair by Carrie Bebris - This is the fourth in the Mr & Mrs Darcy Mystery series by Bebris, and although definitely an enjoyable read, in my opinion it is the weakest outing of the four.  Lady Catherine's daughter Anne, having long been bullied and coddled by her domineering mother, finally appears to grow something of a backbone and elopes rather than follow through with the marriage arranged by Lady Catherine.  It isn't hard to imagine Lady Catherine's reaction, especially when it appears that Elizabeth has been an accomplice to Anne's plans.  Not surprisingly, Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam accept Lady Catherine's demands that they ride in pursuit of Anne and her new husband, and the whole family assembles in Mansfield to try and sort out the matrimonial mess Anne finds herself in.  Some of the other aspects of the story were a little harder for me to believe.  I thought that Lady Catherine did not stay true to her original character as drawn by Austen throughout.  She continues to be bossy, inconsiderate,  and haughty, but I was taken somewhat aback at the few places in this book where her rudeness to Elizabeth and to Meg (a woman who claimed to be already married to Anne's new husband) too blatant to be entirely believable.  I would expect that she would be more inclined to act is though these women were completely beneath her dignity to even notice rather than to engage in name-calling.  Also difficult to believe that Mr Darcy would stand about and say nothing when Lady Catherine actually calls Elizabeth a "stupid, common baggage" - come, Mr Darcy! Even Lady Catherine in a high dudgeon during an emotional outburst shouldn't be allowed to abuse your wife in that way without so much as a comment from you!  All that being said, the solving of the mystery and resolution of the whole affair makes for an intriguing storyline, and Bebris delivers plenty of background on gentleman's dueling and other detail within the dialogue.  And a favorite feature was Meg's innocent assumption that Lady Catherine is losing some of her mental faculties due to advanced age.  Meg's comments and Lady Catherine's speechless shock at receiving them did cause me to laugh aloud.