The third book in the Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery series, which finds the amateur sleuths facing their most daunting challenge preventing the murder of the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Someone is trying to kill Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Esteemed aunt of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, generous patroness of Mr. William Collins, a woman of rank who rules over the estate of Rosings Park with an unimpeachable sense of propriety—who would dare ? Lady Catherine summons her grand-nephew, Mr. Jonathan Darcy, and his investigative companion, Miss Juliet Tilney, to find out.

After a year apart, Jonathan and Juliet are thrilled to be reunited, even if the circumstances—finding whoever has thus far sabotaged Lady Catherine’s carriage, shot at her, and nearly pushed her down the stairs—are less than ideal. Also less than their respective fathers, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Mr. Henry Tilney, have accompanied the young detectives to Rosings, and the two men do not interact with the same felicity enjoyed by their children.

With attempts against Lady Catherine escalating, and no one among the list of prime suspects seemingly capable of committing all of the attacks, the pressure on Jonathan and Juliet mounts—even as more gentle feelings between the two of them begin to bloom. The race is now on to provoke two one from the attempted murderer before it is too late—and one, perhaps, of love.

If you like Jane Austen and remotely enjoy murder mysteries, you absolutely have to pick up this series.

I’ve loved each and every book so far, but I think that this one, The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh is the best yet. I may be biased because this is the most Pride and Prejudice-centric of the three, but there is so much to love about this book.

Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy are, as always, icons who are absolutely made for each other. I love the autism rep in Jonathan Darcy as well, and the way Juliet would probably fight anybody who made him feel bad about himself. Is the slow burn killing me just a little? Yes, especially since I had thought that this was the last book and that they would finally get together at the end.

The other characters are amazing as well. Gray does the characterization of all of the Pride and Prejudice characters who appear so well, with Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter being unexpected standouts. The best secondary characters here, though, are without a doubt Mr. Darcy and Mr. Tilney, who invite themselves along on the mystery to keep an eye on their children and who spend most of the time sniping at each other because they don’t believe the other’s child is good enough for their own. Their interactions absolutely made the book for me, and I’m absolutely praying for Elizabeth and Catherine interactions in the next.

The mystery itself is pretty fun. While the first two books were standard murder mysteries, this follows Jonathan and Juliet as they’re called in by Catherine de Bourgh to investigate a series of attempts on her life in the hopes of catching the murderer before he succeeds. This involves a lot of investigation of the dynamics of life at Rosings Park and Hunsford Parsonage in a way that lets Gray dive deep into each of the characters. The mystery was fun, but it did feel like there were portions in the middle that were just there to fill up space rather than to add any new depth or twist to it, which is part of the reason that I took off a star.

Overall, I highly recommend this book, as I do every book in this series. It is a love letter to Jane Austen that also allows us to see people murder (or attempt to murder) the most hated of Austen’s characters (there is certainly a sort of delight in reading about attempts to kill Mr. Wickham and Mr. Willoughby). Juliet and Jonathan continue to be wonderful protagonists, Gray’s characterization of existing characters is both true to Austen and gives side characters more depth, and, though the mystery here falters a little bit in the middle, it is still done well enough to see us through a book whose characters are its true strength. 4/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.