Pride & Meditation

Pride and Premeditation
by Tirzah Price
Published by HarperCollins Publishers
on 2021
Genres: Mysteries & Detective Stories, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 368



Goodreads

About the book:

Perfect for fans of the Lady Janies and Stalking Jack the Ripper, the first book in the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries series is a clever retelling of Pride and Prejudice that reimagines the iconic settings, characters, and romances in a thrilling and high-stakes whodunit.

When a scandalous murder shocks London high society, seventeen-year-old aspiring lawyer Lizzie Bennet seizes the opportunity to prove herself, despite the interference of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the stern young heir to the prestigious firm Pemberley Associates.

Convinced the authorities have imprisoned the wrong person, Lizzie vows to solve the murder on her own. But as the case—and her feelings for Darcy—become more complicated, Lizzie discovers that her dream job could make her happy, but it might also get her killed.

Book Links

Keep scrolling for our interview with Tirzah!

 

Review

Growing up, I loved reading Nancy Drew and as an adult, I developed/kept the spark for mysteries. I love trying to guess who the bad guy will be before it’s revealed!!

Pride & Premeditation follows in the steps of Pride & Prejudice and Nancy Drew mixed in together. I have to admit, I’ve never read any of the Jane Austen classics, but after this read, I’m going to add them to my TBR. Tirzah Price takes some liberties with some topics that weren’t acceptable in the timeframe when the story took place, but I don’t think that it took anything away from the overall story.

Lizzie wants to officially work in her dad’s office, but being a female in the 1813, that was out of the question. However, Lizzie was fortunate enough that her dad cares more about his daughters’ happiness rather than what society expects of them and so he allows Lizzie a bit of free reign. Enough that he offers to make her an official solicitor in training if she can solve a case on her own using logic.

Instead of starting off with a smaller case, Lizzie goes big and wants to take on a very scandalous murder, and she does just about everything in her power to land the case but things don’t exactly go as she might’ve hoped. While unofficially but officially working the case, Lizzie learns a lot about herself and about how her ideals and perceptions don’t exactly match up with the rest of world and she has to learn how to deal and adapt.

On the journey to finding the murderer, Lizzie learns a lot about herself, learns that first impressions can be misleading, and that while she has the skill and passion for the job, they don’t always mean success.

Loved seeing how everything came together and how certain relationships played out. I hope that the next books in the series continue to follow Lizzie because I’d love to see how she continues to grow.

Giveaway

One person will win a signed finished copy of Pride and Premeditation. The giveaway starts on April 5^th and ends on April 12^th.

Enter Here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/fc15a59527/?

Giveaway

What came first, plot or characters?

Definitely the characters—I always knew I wanted to reimagine the Pride and Prejudice characters in a mystery, and while I threw out Austen’s plot, I tried to keep the characters intact as much as possible while reimagining a completely different premise for them!

If possible to answer – will the next books still follow Lizzie or will we be meeting new leads in each one?

Each of the following books will reimagine the Austen books with their original characters, but while Lizzie and Darcy won’t be leads in the next books, you might still see glimpses of them!

Who was your favorite character to write?

Lizzie for sure—she came to me so easily because of her passion and fire! I also had a lot of fun writing Mrs. Bennet because she’s so ridiculous.

What scene/moment was your favorite to write?

There’s a point about three-quarters through the book where Lizzie and Darcy find themselves locked in a dark room together. It’s a moment where they’re forced to be still in a very intense sequence of investigation, and they must reflect on their feelings for each other. It was a lot of fun to write.

Is there anything that was edited out that you wish it hadn’t?

Revising a novel is such an interesting process because the main goal is to make the book as strong and as compelling as possible. There was plenty that was cut in the revision process and I don’t really regret anything because as painful as it might feel in the moment, by the time you hold the finished book in hand you know it was the right call. That said, I did write a purely superfluous prologue that managed to hang on right up until copyedits, when my editor pointed out it wasn’t really necessary!

Growing up, what were some of your favorite books?

I loved everything I read by Meg Cabot and Caroline B. Cooney, and Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine was a big hit with me—I read it so many times that my Scholastic Book Fair copy fell to pieces.

What’s your writing process like? Have any writing quirks?

I am definitely a plotter, and I have to have some idea of what the ending will be before I start writing—I need a goal to write towards. I outline pretty extensively before sitting down to write and then I try and draft fairly consistently and quickly to get to the end. Then comes revision, which is not my favorite, but allows me to really see the story as a whole and what needs to be cut, rewritten, and rearranged. I’m not sure if I have any quirks, per se, except that for some reason I feel like all of my chapters need to be between seven and eleven Word doc pages, and I have to convince myself it’s okay if a chapter is shorter or longer.

What was your favorite part, and your least favorite part, of the publishing journey?

Well, my least favorite part is definitely the waiting! Good things take work and time, but it can sometimes be hard to wait for news. My favorite part thus far has been the moments when the manuscript is typeset. It’s a thrill to see what the pages will look like—a sort of magical transformation from overworked Word doc to a “real” book!

 

 

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