3.25 stars. The Rushmore Family Plot is the fourth in the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney series by Claudia Gray. I had only read the first in the series prior to reading this, but enjoyed the continued adventures of Jonathan and Juliet. In this book they are working to solve the murder of Mr. Rushworth. Their investigations are intermixed with the parties, shopping, and social calls that are integral to the London season.

I enjoyed this book and spending time with the children of some of the characters from Jane Austen’s famous novels. Along with the well-crafted mystery we have all the scheming and manipulation for good matches and climbing the social ladder typically seen in Austen’s books. At one point the author mentioned that Jonathan failed to notice the stratagem of the situation. I looked this up and see it is defined as “a plan or scheme, especially one used to outwit an opponent or achieve and end.” This perfectly sums up all that is transpiring in both a Jane Austen novel and in this series, which is based on the historical books.

While I am glad to have read the book, I did find that at times the book didn’t hold my attention. There was a lot going on with a number of characters and side stories and it was a lot to keep track of.

Thank you to the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor | Anchor, author Claudia Gray, and NetGalley for the gifted digital ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney are back with another scintillating mystery to be solved and aren’t we all grateful that we get to come along for the detective adventure?! I continue to be hooked on this fun series that combines two of my favorites- Austen characters and murder mysteries. This installment brings us back to the Bertram family and all the family drama that seems to plague them incessantly. Poor Fanny!

I’m honestly not sure what to make of the portrayal of Mr. Darcy in this series so far. In my opinion, his attitude and behavior toward Juliet Tilney do not seem to match what we know of him from Pride and Prejudice. Granted, his behavior in this series lines up with what we thought of him at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, but most certainly not by the end of the book. Why would he be so vehemently opposed to his son marrying for love when that’s exactly what he did? I have complete faith that the author will eventually bring this conundrum to a positive resolution for all characters. Only time will tell the tale. On that note I’m definitely ready for book five!

Be sure to add The Rushworth Family Plot to your TBR! Thank you to the publisher and Austenprose for a complimentary e-ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Good to Know: miscarriage, infertility, descriptions of an explicit and disturbing painting.

This review includes SPOILERS! Claudia Gray is a master at creating situations and dialog that feels authentic to the world of Austen. She has created characters that feel like the natural extensions of the characters we originally met in the original Austen books. She also creates mysteries that keep me hooked and keep me guessing until the end. I also believe that the author intends to create a mystery story centered around each finished Austen novel and this fourth one is centered on "Mansfield Park." There are two left - "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey." I will absolutely read any all books that the author releases with this delightful duo!

However... and here are where SPOILERS start, so stop reading if that is going to affect you...

I believed (AND TRULY WANTED) that Juliet and Jonathan would "get together" in this book based on the ending of the third book. By "get together" I mean in the context of the era, maybe they agree to begin courting by the end, or they start courting during the book and are engaged at the end. But the ending left the characters even more apart than ever before! My hope was that they would be together for some of the books and the readers could get some playful banter like Nick and Nora Charles. I'm getting the feeling the author is going to keep them apart until the very end of the series!

It felt like each obstacle the characters encountered on the road to happiness was put there deliberately by the author and didn't necessarily arise from the organic interactions and situations between the characters. I know that sounds weird to say since the author IS THE CREATOR of the story, the world, the characters. For example, what purpose did the Mrs. Allerdyce (fka Caroline Bingley) subplot serve other than specifically to create an obstacle between Jonathan and Juliet? What purpose did the Follett painting subplot serve besides creating an obstacle between Juliet and Jonathan?

Thank you to Knopf and Netgalley for granting my ARC request.

I’ve never heard anyone say Mansfield Park is their favorite Austen novel. I know it’s not my favorite Austen novel. But I think Claudia Gray did a great job taking the characters and the plot line from that story and running with it.

Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy are back together again, solving murders. I was unable to figure out who the culprit was before being told. In Book 2, I thought the killer was obvious, so I enjoyed how this time it was difficult to figure out who did it and how it took place.

I’d also say that more time was spent on character development and romance development than on solving the murder. Now that we’re in Book 4, I think it’s a good thing to have the Jonathan and Juliet romance ramping up and being more center stage. They’re able to admit to themselves they love each other. People around them can see it too.

Also, not since Book 1 have we had so many different characters from different Austen books meeting. Caroline (formerly Bingley) shows up with her daughters, and she made me shake my fists. So did Fitzwilliam Darcy, but I know Elizabeth will eventually set him straight. I enjoyed that we got more of Catherine Tilney since we didn’t see her in Book 1-3 all that much. And then we had something that happened in Book 2 create major problems in this one. I appreciate that Claudia is tying all the books in the series together.

The Rushworth Family Plot ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, and I am excited to see how the next book in the series will handle it.

Bring on Book 5!!!

⭐️=4.75 | 😘=2 | 🤬=1.5 | ⚔️=3 | 14/15+

summary: Book 4 of the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney mystery series; they’re both in London for the season, with Mr. Darcy staying at the Bertrams’. Mr. Rushworth is suddenly killed—but by whom?? and how?? and why??

thoughts: questioning whether I will recover from this?? the balance between mystery and a continuously developing relationship between Jonathan and Juliet has always been fantastic in this series but in TRFP specifically!! so good!! the cliffhanger?? brutal. the DRAMA????? excruciating. I can't say anything else without spoilers but like I audibly gasped several times like the plot twists were SERIOUS. this is also just thematically fantastic and manages to tackle a lot of the issues brought up in Mansfield Park (colonialism, generational trauma, et cetera) while still maintaining a compelling mystery and Jonathan & Juliet shenanigans bc the characters in Mansfield Park are soooo messy and just perfect for a murder mystery. and I've always adored the prose here, ft. Austenesque witty asides and commentary and keeping the narrator very close to the reader in that delicious, well-done omniscient manner. the mystery denouement felt very slightly rushed, but tbh I don’t care because the rest of this was so clever and delightful.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I have been loving this series ever since I saw it in a bookstore in Portland two years ago. They’re always so fun and the stories are crafted with intention.
In this one, we mostly follow characters from Mansfield Park, and I have to give props to Ms Gray for that because that is a dense book and the nuances of the characters are not easy to capture. I do think they were reduced to more simple portrayals in this book, but they still had the right feeling to them and it was great to see some of the horrid family members from that book get their comeuppance’s. The issue of slavery in the family was much more explicitly addressed here than in Mansfield Park, but I think a lot of readers may miss some of the nuances of that when reading Mansfield Park so I liked that she didn’t omit it from her story with these characters.
The actual mystery was a bit slow to get moving, I felt that there was less clue gathering in this one than in some of the others, but the second half of the book really picked up and I audibly gasped at some of the parts at the end! I particularly enjoyed how Mr Darcy defended Miss Tilley at the end, I thought that was a fun and dramatic gesture to add in (and the way it was written reminded me of the Hamilton musical in some ways haha)
Overall, this isn’t my favorite of the series, but I still really enjoyed it! I can’t wait to see how our characters are thrown together again

Come for the Austen characters, stay for the emotional journeys!

This series continues to be an absolute delight. Every installment delivers a delightful mystery while also upping the stakes in Juliet and Jonathan's relationship. In The Rushworth Family Plot, the events of The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh come back to impact the characters in a way that left me shaken and needing the next book IMMEDIATELY.

One thing that keeps drawing me back to this series is the way Claudia Gray explores neurodivergence and other forms of marginalization and social difference in the regency setting. I'm very much looking forward to returning to this world soon.

Having read the other books in Claudia Gray's Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney mystery series, I was looking forward to this one. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed by how little their love story was moved forward.

While the first few books in the series really kept me reading because I anticipated Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney moving towards a courtship, this fourth book feels like a tease to the point of being quite frustrating. As another reviewer put it, the author either needs to give them their happy ending so they can continue their sleuthing as a married couple, or wrap up the series and call it a day. Trying not to be too harsh here, but it really is at a point where something needs to give.

Perhaps in Book 5? We'll have to see...

The mystery plot itself was engaging enough, although it dragged in a few places for me. The writing is really great, but it is done in the Jane Austen style so if you prefer a modern voice, this isn't it.

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the ARC! This will be out June 17, 2025.

For the first 20% of this book, I was so wrapped up in Jonathan and Juliet’s circumstances that I sort of forgot there was going to be a murder! Which is perhaps just as well, because the murder mystery part of this book falls a bit short. The time spent on it is less substantive and less interesting than everything else going on! The big reveal is sort of tacked on, not something that we build to appropriately, and I still don’t really understand the means by which the murder was accomplished.

Where the book shines is as a second-gen Austen novel! As usual, Gray makes it a pleasure to catch back up with all our beloved friends and be-hated nemeses.

This was by far my favorite in the series and I hope we will get another book after this one because my love for Juliet and Jonathan demands it. The pacing of this book felt a bit off since the first two thirds seemed to read slow and I couldn’t read the last third fast enough. This could be in part because it focuses so much on the individual and family lives of the Bertram's and less on the investigation and budding relationship between Juliet and Jonathan. However the last third of the book makes up for this by speeding up the investigation, giving us action and suspense, and a tender moment between our two love birds. I am excited to see what comes next in this series.

Another great entry to the Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney series. This time we are with the Bertram’s, where Jonathan is staying after his family leaves early due to an injured brother. Miss Juliet Tilney and her mother are in town on orders from her grandfather who wants Juliet to make a match during the season and her mother must meet with her editors. A murder connected to the Bertram family in the middle of the London Season brings our young investigators together again. This fourth entry in the series has me wanting more. And I had to restrain myself from reading ahead to see if I guessed correctly.

3.5 stars, rounded up. This is the fourth installment in author Gray's Jane Austen mystery series with the two protagonist sleuths being the children of famous Austen characters - namely Jonathan Darcy & Juliet Tilney. I have enjoyed all of these books, but this latest one, "The Rushworth Family Plot" is my least favorite to date - mostly for two reasons: 1) Mansfield Park is my least favorite Austen, but more importantly - 2). the lack of development in the romance between the two leads. Things either need to end or heat up there, it's getting a bit silly. Still, I did enjoy it & these books are a lot of fun for even the most casual Austen reader. I will read another, but hope that Gray works a bit more on the romance angle & picks "Persuasion" to visit next! My thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for my advance readers copy - really appreciate the opportunity to review it.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. This is one of my favorite series, and this being the forth book was a great addition. This time Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy must solve the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Rushworth in London. This book has everything, mystery, history, romance. The author does a great job of keeping the characters and settings similar to Jane Austen's novels. I love seeing the characters I love in this new series and adventures.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the ARC!

This was my very first ARC ever, which is so exciting for a new reviewer such as myself. I only read the other three books in this series earlier this year, and I knew getting this was a long shot, so I am extra grateful for the early access to this work!

This installment places us in London, with our focus being on the characters from everyone's (least) favorite Austen novel, Mansfield Park.

I'll start with what I loved this time. First and foremost, Juliet and Jonathan. I love them with my whole entire heart. They're so sweet, so well suited to each other, and a slow burn friends to lovers in the background of a 19th century murder mystery is like pure comfort food. I think their relationship is what keeps the readers coming back for more every time. And this book FINALLY gave us some actual romantic moments between them! Certain scenes had me giggling and kicking my feet.

Of course, I also loved getting to see some iconic Austen characters in the spotlight. Mrs. Norris! Caroline Bingley! Pug! And we're in town for the London season, what fun! I'm always giddy to see more of the characters I know and love. Gray has a firm grasp on Austen's original characters. Most of them (though not all) feel like themselves. Unfortunately, it is possible to have far too much of a good thing, and that is the trap this book falls into.

Claudia Gray's number one flaw throughout this series is that she takes WAY too long to get to the point. Reading this on my Kindle, I could see the exact percentage that marked when the murder actually occurs. TWENTY-FOUR PERCENT. TWENTY. FOUR. That is an EGREGIOUS amount of pages to spend before getting to the murder in the MURDER MYSTERY. I think Gray is as excited as we are to have more content surrounding so many iconic literary figures. As a result, we have so many other plotlines woven in that are so deeply unnecessary. An absurd amount of time is devoted to Fanny and Edmund's family difficulties, Sir Thomas's marital prospects, and the Antigua plantation. If these books didn't revolve around solving a murder, this would be fine. But it's already an ambitious task to try to keep a solid mystery and a solid romance going. The book doesn't have to be Mansfield Park 2 as well. The book can only semi get away with doing this because Jane Austen created characters that are still on our minds 200+ years later, not through any ingenuity of its own.

There's also the issue that has been addressed in every slightly negative review of this book thus far -- keeping Juliet and Jonathan apart is becoming way too contrived. First of all, let my man Fitzwilliam Darcy keep the character development he worked so hard for in Pride and Prejudice. He is being such a hypocritical nuisance, and everyone is tired of it. Second of all, in an attempt to find a new way to separate the characters, we get the most WILDLY out of place series of events that really take over the end of the book. Once again, we have completely lost sight of the fact that this is a murder mystery. The grand reveal at the end feels like an afterthought because of the previous plot excitement. As another reviewer said, Juliet and Jonathan either need to get married, or part ways for good.

Now, did I devour this book? Yeah, absolutely. Will I be reading the next one? Of course. It's still fun, and like I said, I love Juliet and Jonathan. It is perfectly enjoyable as a novel. The problem this book has, as well as the others in the series, is that it fails as a murder mystery. There is simply far too much going on. Hopefully, the next book will zero in on the mystery plotline, and we will see Jonathan and Juliet at the altar at last.

Another delightful entry in Claudia Gray’s Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney series. This is a great series because the main characters are not any of the beloved characters from Jane Austen’s books, but two of their children. Various characters we know from Austen’s novels weave in and out of the stories, but the focus is on Jonathan Darcy and Juliette Tilney.

If you can set aside your disbelief that two young people of quality would be allowed to go about solving murders, you can settle in and enjoy the narratives. Gray does her best otherwise to follow the manners of the times. The novels are often funny, and the information about balls, calls, courtship, and the importance of one’s reputation all ring true to me.

In The Rushworth Family Plot, we spend time with some of the least likable characters in Austen’s cannon. I can never really forgive Edmund Bertram for being such an idiot about Fanny. Fanny herself is not one would call a strong and resilient woman. Edmund’s brother and sisters are even worse than he is, and the Crawford siblings also play a significant role in the story. Gray handles them all, plus Catherine Tilney and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, with a fine hand.

I found the two murders interesting but particularly enjoyed the courtship of Jonathan and Juliette. Jonathan’s neurodivergent traits are also handled well. The issue of enslavers and the enslaved is a significant plot point.

I read an advance reader copy of The Rushworth Family Plot. The book ends on something of a cliffhanger, and I eagerly await book 5.

I was somewhat indifferent to the mystery compared to past books, but I enjoyed the conclusion, and the personal drama had me on the edge of my seat. Just when I thought Caroline Bingley couldn’t be more despicable than Austen originally conceived… here she goes proving me wrong. The Mansfield Park characters also felt far less annoying than in the first book of the series. Need the next book now, please!

I really enjoy these mysteries featuring characters from Jane Austen's classic novels. I do wish there were less impediments to the central romance, but I did like the mystery and want to see the story through to the end.

Thanks to Vintage Anchor Books and Austenprose book tours for the free advance digital copy of The Rushworth Family Plot by Claudia Gray.

This series is becoming more delightful by the book—Claudia Gray has mastered the union of a well-crafted murder mystery with a Regency romance. Her use of Jane Austen’s beloved characters is respectful and creative; I love seeing the books cross over into each other, with all the characters about twenty years older.

The writing is delightful, engaging, and kept me turning the pages, wishing for more even after the satisfying conclusion. Here are some favorite lines:

“…as humanity is forever inventing new ways of being disagreeable.”

“Thus he did not consider himself to be disobedient in renewing the acquaintance with Miss Tilney; he was merely anticipating his parents’ inevitable change of opinion.”

Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney are a match made in heaven, both in intellect and personality, but parents and society keep getting in the way. Caroline Bingley is stirring up trouble again. A scandalous portrait in an art exhibition leads to ruin and a potential duel. The Mansfield Park crew faces challenges from every facet of their lives. And who killed Mr. Rushworth? How will Jonathan and Juliet solve the crime? The narrative is complex and crafted. I loved it, and I hope you all get started on this series and come chat with me about it!

In the fourth installment of mysteries featuring Jane Austen's entire catalog of characters, Claudia Gray has once again plunged Mr. Jonathan Darcy and Miss Juliet Tilney into another murder investigation of characters you kinda wanted to see murdered during their novel of origin anyway. The author captures the voice of the beloved characters quite well, and the reader is free to bask in revisiting Jane Austen's world with the addition of a cozy mystery and overarching fresh romantic plotline that will hopefully resolve itself in the next installment.

Claudia Gray’s Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney murder mysteries are my favorite fun reads. These books bring characters from across Austen’s six novels altogether and have the grown children of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy and Catherine and Henry Tilney solve the mysterious deaths (or near-deaths) of Austen villains. They are silly and fluffy and full of Austen-y goodness. They’re also well-plotted, well-paced mysteries that keep me guessing without forcing me to solve a puzzle. And, most important to me for pastiche and beach reads, they don’t take themselves too seriously. I loved the first and second in the series, but the third took a serious dip for me, and I was so happy that this fourth installment clicked for me. This book revolves around the cast of Mansfield Park, which was so fun to read after just finishing a reread of that classic. Gray does a wonderful job of highlight just how dramatic the events of MP are, because they really really are! Gray also grapples with the role of slavery in MP and the book—silly mystery that it is—is clearly informed by Said’s commentary on MP in Culture and Imperialism. I’m not sure how successful this was as I felt like it allowed the characters we like off the book, but I appreciated that she wrestled with it. Plot wise, this book does have some common middle-of-series problems with drawing out things even when we readers know the final outcome, but while that felt lazily done in the previous book, Gray got more inventive and over-the-top in this installment, which I appreciated. If you haven’t read this series, I do recommend them if you want something fun and escapist. If you’ve been reading the series and didn’t love book three, I think you’ll still want to continue with this one.