The Rushford Family Plot by Claudia Gray
Published: June 2025
Summary from Goodreads:
The fourth book in the Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery series, which finds the amateur sleuths caught up in the whirlwind of the London Season—and in a murderous scheme involving the family of Edmund and Fanny Bertram.
Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other perfectly; it’s a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, has led their parents to deem the pair unsuited to wed. Now, with the Season approaching, Juliet has been sent to London with a new wardrobe and orders to prove herself worthy of someone better than the snobby Darcys.
Meanwhile, Jonathan has been forced to accept an invitation to stay with old friends Edmund and Fanny Bertram at the house of Edmund’s brother, Sir Thomas. Oblivious to and undesiring of female attention other than Juliet’s, Jonathan is in danger of being ensnared by Caroline Bingley’s plans to make herself—or her daughter—mistress of Pemberley.
But when the former husband of Edmund’s sister Maria, Mr. Rushworth, is discovered dead, Jonathan and Juliet find themselves with problems far weightier than the marriage market.
In one of the greatest scandals of its day, Maria abandoned her husband for the notorious rake Henry Crawford and, when he wouldn’t marry her, was forced to flee to the continent in disgrace. Now Maria is back, with a daughter she claims Mr. Rushworth fathered after their divorce—and who he wrote into his will just before his death.
Now Jonathan and Juliet must unmask a killer before the drama surrounding the Rushworth family fortune claims another victim.
Confession:
As much as I love Jonathan and Juliet, this book just never quite worked for me. There were just far to many other things going on in this book with other characters that seemed unnecessary and took away from the murder mystery and the romance. Also it took way to long for the murders to happen and then to finally be solved.
Jonathan and Juliet continue to grow as characters and I just love the two of them together. I am finding it rather frustrating that they just never seem to get their parents on board about their relationship. Also the reasons for Jonathan not to be courting Juliet are very contrived and although are probably realistic to the time period, just feel rather out of place. Especially the events that happen at the end of this book that once again means that they are separated. I know that a woman’s reputation meant everything in this time period, but the events that leads to Juliet’s reputation being spoiled were pretty far fetched. Although I loved Jonathan’s reasons for doing what he did and the fact that he decides to stand by her.
There are a lot of characters involved in this book, all of them are from Mansfield Park, which I haven’t read. I never felt invested in any of these stories lines, and in fact found Fanny and Edmund to be quite annoying. Fanny especially really grated on me. Her constant whining about how she was treated as a child by the very same family she then married into, and about not being able to have children just became really boring and tiresome. Also the storyline about the family owning a plantation with slaves felt underdeveloped. All of this really undermined the mystery plot and the romance which often felt like an afterthought.
The London setting was nicely done and I quite enjoyed reading about the balls and other events that the characters participate in. The writing is very reminiscent of Austin’s style while still having the author’s own voice come through. I really liked the murders and the mysteries, however the murder weapons were perhaps a bit far fetched, especially for the first murder. This made it hard to solve who committed the crimes. The ending of the book felt a bit rushed, especially the big reveal of who the murderer was.
Even though I found this one to be disappointing, I am still looking forward to the next book in the series. Hopefully this will be the one where Jonathan and Juliet finally get their romance off the ground.
If you are interested in my reviews for the other books in this series please click on the titles below.
The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Confessions of a Serial Reader 