Review: Sense and Second Degree Murder

I'm back with the second review within the trilogy of Tirzah Price's Jane Austen Murder Mysteries--this time focusing on Sense and Second Degree Murder by Tirzah Price (based on Sense & Sensibility). 

In case you missed my review of the first book in the series (Pride & Premeditation by Tirzah Price (based on Pride & Prejudice) found here; the author describes the trilogy as "a series of standalone mystery retellings of Jane Austen’s beloved classics, by way of Agatha Christie". Apparently you can read them out of order, but I chose to read them in chronological order. 

As I've said before, while I am extremely familiar with Jane Austen's work, I'm not a purist and don't mind riffs on her work as long as the adaptations explore or expand on the themes from the original stories and the characters are somewhat recognizable.

The plot summary is as follows: "When eighteen-year-old aspiring scientist Elinor Dashwood discovers her beloved father slumped over the desk of his office study, she knows his death means dire straits for the Dashwood women. To make matters worse, an outdated will entails his estate—including Norland & Company, the private investigation firm where her younger sister Marianne worked as her father’s partner and protégé—to their half-brother and his haughty wife, who waste no time in forcing the Dashwoods out of their home and into a cramped apartment on London’s Barton Street. But before they go, the Dashwood sisters make a startling discovery that points to foul play, and the killer might be family. Obviously, the girls must investigate. It could be dangerous; it could ruin their reputations; and most importantly, it won’t bring back their father. But if the Dashwood sisters can combine their talents and bring their father’s murderer to justice, it may bring them all some comfort—and it might even lead to love." 

 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

I said in my previous post that Price's decision to set her trilogy in their original time period, while often ignoring societal rules for said time period, while also relying on said rules every so often in order to move the plot along, added confusing and contradictory elements to the first book. This is not quite as much of a problem in this one--a good thing, as Sense & Sensibility is far less widely known than the very popular Pride & Prejudice and relies even more heavily on the social rules of the time period. There are some liberties taken, of course--Marianne wants to be a female detective and Elinor a chemist, the discovery and application of morphine is accelerated--but some of the more period-scandalous behavior is in line with the original novel, especially Marianne's unchaperoned dalliances with Willoughby. 

The characterization of the Dashwood sisters is, in my opinion, quite reminiscent of their Jane Austen counterparts. Elinor's sense of responsibility and penchant for shoving aside her feelings for the good of others comes through during her chapters, and the added trauma over discovering her father makes it easy for the reader to understand her choices and feel sympathy for her. I thought her passion for chemistry was an interesting change that fit her personality well. Similarly, Marianne's determination to solve the case (despite not having the experience to do so successfully), her dream of becoming a detective, and her frustration with her sister for seemingly not sharing her upset reflected the personality of her character in the original novel pretty accurately. 

I was quite confused by the lack of page time dedicated to our male leads, Brandon and Edward-- the latter of who's last name is inexplicably changed to Farrows? Their characters seemed underwritten, with the unfortunate consequence of diluting their respective romances (but more on that later). I was especially disappointed with Price's decision to have Edward's crowning moment of development happen off-page--hearing about it secondhand dampened the excitement I as a reader was supposed to feel about him finally standing up for the Dashwoods to his mother. 

The main problems with this book are the pacing and the plot, as well as the romances. As I said in my Pride & Premed review, Price's self-confinement to the retelling box--or as she calls it, "a makeover"--sets herself up for a difficult task. A good retelling breathes new life into a beloved work by honoring its core messages, while providing a unique perspective or new dimension to the story. It should deepen the reader's relationship to the original story, but it should also stand on its own merits in terms of character, setting, and plot. In my opinion, Sense and Second Degree Murder is somewhat successful as a retelling when it came to characterization and character development (at least compared to its predecessor Pride & Premeditation), but unfortunately I found its plot much weaker and the romances frustratingly underwritten in a way that did not reflect the story on which it was based. 

First: pacing. The events of the first two thirds of the book move too slowly, despite so much going on. Primary plot points include delving into the grief of the Dashwoods, them being ousted of their home, and Marianne's investigation, as well as her growing relationship with Willoughby. Then, in the last third of the book, plot points start happening at hyperspeed--opium dens! Explosions! Bullet wounds! A death! An attempted murder! Two romances! Starting a business! It was little bit too much, too late; in my opinion.

Now, plot. Some of the most messy, reality-TV worthy plot points of Sense & Sensibility that make it such a jaw-dropping masterpiece (Lucy and Edward's secret engagement and her insistence on rubbing it in Elinor's face; Marianne chasing down Willoughby at the ball only for him to completely ice her out, the ICONIC mistake as to which Mr. Ferrars has just been married, Edward's confession to Elinor) went untouched in this remake, which was disappointing. The drama is right there, why not utilize it your advantage? 

I'm going to be honest--I found the opium plotline to be quite interesting until we had the big showdown at the opium den. The chaos of the brawl, explosion, and subsequent shootout read like absolute nonsense and didn't mesh with the energy of the rest of the novel. 

I was also extremely confused as to Lucy's attempt to kill Marianne (WHEN THE DASHWOODS HAD NO SUSPICIONS ABOUT HER INVOLVEMENT IN THE CRIMES WHATSOEVER) with everyone downstairs after they explicitly told her she wasn't allowed to go up there. Firstly, why kill Marianne at all when Wickham was dead (i.e can't talk) and no one suspects Lucy in the crime(s) anyway? Even if we allow that Lucy didn't know Wickham was dead and was worried he would squeal and/or was doing so on the orders of the opium den boss as revenge for blowing up the place, it makes zero sense for her to go about it in such a self-incriminating fashion. Once we imprison her, she ends up an informant in exchange for nice clothes and blankets, so it's definitely not out of loyalty to the criminal cause! We have already determined that her character is more likely to talk, blackmail, or manipulate her way out of something, so it felt strange that the author chose to write it that way instead of motivating the choice by the Dashwoods accusing Lucy or Lucy unsuccessfully attempting to pin the matter on Willoughby alone/creating a fake accomplice for him or something. The ridiculousness of this scene gave me the impression that the author couldn't figure out how to incorporate a villain reveal, so she had to write the villain doing something incredibly stupid and unnecessary in order to create the opportunity. 

Finally, romance. Despite the summary's final line of "and it might even lead to love", the love lines in this book amounted to maybe 5% of page time, unless you count Willoughby and Marianne's ill-fated infatuation, which made up maybe 20%. But we all know how that ends...

Marianne's connection with Willoughby feels rushed, despite several hundred pages of interactions. Perhaps this is because the character lacked the charm of Austen's Willoughby? I can't tell if the problem is that Margaret and Elinor immediately have suspicions about him, which encourages the reader to also question his intentions; or if it's because the plot is within the framework of a murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. Then again, the basis of this critique might actually be a lack of suspense, as anyone who knows anything about Sense & Sensibility knows that Willoughby is a loser. Although, Price is also at fault for not putting a lot of work into disguising Willoughby's nefarious intentions: in the lab scene, Marianne's inner monologue of "Why did he assume we were breaking in? Where did he got the lock picks? What lady taught him? Did he just plant that evidence--no, probably not, right? Although how did he find it so easily and quickly?" Like, GIRL. You're supposed to be an investigator; come on. At least Willoughby in Sense & Sensibility fooled all of us!!! 

Marianne's last minute "romance"--which is more hinted at then actually written--with Brandon is even more rushed, and with even less chemistry. The two barely interact, Brandon only seems attracted to her because he is projecting the personality of Eliza onto her, and Marianne only begins to feel any type of regard for him because he treated her bullet wound. We don't get to know Brandon enough to determine whether he is a good fit for her, and the one scene where he shows the most personality is actually when he is discussing chemistry with Elinor (weirdly, that scene actually made me want to root for Brandon x Elinor as a couple??? Who even am I???). 

The pacing of Elinor's story and her romance has the opposite problem to Marianne's--sooooo slow. Unlike in the original, Edward and Elinor spend very little time together, although admittedly their one scene in the kitchen felt like it could have been a sweet beginning to something deeper. And while this lack of interaction adds credence to Elinor's assertion that she doesn't know enough about him to determine if she likes him or not, it does feel like a waste of either time (for people who didn't want a romance) and opportunity (for people who do).  

Basically, the book leaned more heavily into Sensibility than Sense, and in my opinion, it was to its detriment. Had Price taken a page out of Jane Austen's book (lol) and tried to balance the two elements as the Dashwood sisters learn to do in the original novel, her adaptation would have been more successful. 

That said, this book does have some good points:

- I appreciated the author's decision to expand the character of Margaret, the youngest Dashwood sister--she was absolutely the funniest character of the bunch, with the quippiest dialogue. She was often the person pointing out relevant clues and moving the mystery along. I wonder if the story would have been stronger or more captivating from her point of view? 

- The exploration of grief and the cruelty of their brother's family was appropriately reflective of the original novel.

-The focus on sisterhood was more present in this novel than the previous installment and I think that went a long way in strengthening its characters. 

Other problems I had with this novel:

-Again, we have the issue of the characters having the same names and moral alignments despite the change in plot, making it extremely obvious who is "good" and who is "bad". Though the reader will not have all the information as to how or why the crimes were committed, anyone with a working knowledge of Sense & Sensibility will immediately understand that Willoughby and Lucy are wolves in sheep's clothing. Price once again refrains from employing dramatic irony; eliminating suspense and encouraging the reader to judge Marianne this time for lacking appropriate suspicion. And this time, we judge the main character even more harshly--in the first book, Lizzie just wanted to go into law; Marianne wants to be an INVESTIGATOR. 

- The flattening of Mrs. Jennings was a bit of a letdown, since she's so much fun in the original.

- There is an implication that their brother resents their father for abandoning him to create a "new" family with his new wife, and that this is what motivates him to allow his wife to banish the sisters and their mother from the family home. This goes unexplored and their father is depicted as the perfect, loving parent (despite his having a will that has not been updated to include his new family, a massive and irresponsible oversight) and the brother as a jerk. 

- Their mother "shaking off" her depression was an extremely unrealistic (and potentially dangerous) depiction of healing from mental illness. Considering the author took quite a bit of time to question the validity of medical advice and the dangers of opioid addiction in ways that might be controversial with the advent of the Covid pandemic, I found this inexcusable.

-The language was distinctly more modernized in this one--I cringed in particular at the use of "like like".

Overall, I'd give this book 2/5 stars as a murder mystery, and a 2.75/5 as a retelling.