Murder in Highbury

Fans of Jane Austen and historical mysteries won’t want to miss Murder in Highbury, the first in Vanessa Kelly‘s new Emma Knightley Mystery series.

Now married to George Knightley, Emma is off of matchmaking and on to… solving crimes! When she and Harriet Martin stumble across the body of Mrs. Elton, it’s immediately clear to Emma that the woman has been murdered. But who in Highbury could possibly commit such a heinous crime? When the men in charge of the investigation leave a lot to be desired, Emma decides to take matters into her own hands and follow the clues herself. If she can make love connections, she can certainly connect the dots in a murder mystery just as well.

Tropes & Narrative Devices:

• Characters from Jane Austen’s Emma
• Incompetent professionals
• Much more competent amateur investigator
• Several red herrings
• Third-person narration

What I Liked:

• Humor! As with Emma, Murder in Highbury is full of wit and humor. Much of it comes from Emma herself, from her sometimes callous remarks and darkly funny jokes. George offers his fair share of dryly delivered jokes, too. There are also the outlandish things other characters (like Emma’s father) say in the face of all this chaos. Despite the themes of murder and villains afoot, this book was such fun to read.
• Feminist lens. From the beginning of the novel, Emma is pushing back against outdated thinking on what women can or should do. Why shouldn’t a woman be able to investigate a crime? Who says women aren’t capable of violence themselves? Why are women constantly considered to be so delicate and helpless and incapable? Emma proves to the constable and the coroner that she is just as able to investigate and solve a crime as they are… perhaps more so.
• Twisting mystery. There are some red herrings to watch out for, and I loved working through the clues and drawing my own theories alongside Emma and George. There was a certain character I began to suspect partway through the book, and I’m proud to say I was on the right track there! Emma should enlist my help for the next mystery!
• Revisiting the Highbury residents. If you’ve read Emma (and I hope you have), then you’ll recognize most of the characters here. I appreciate that their characterizations in Murder in Highbury are exactly on point; it feels like the author channeled Jane Austen herself, then poured in a healthy dose of her own storytelling magic. They’re true to the original characters, even in the face of wildly different circumstances. I especially loved seeing Emma and George interact one-on-one.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• Nothing, this was great!

Final Thoughts

Murder in Highbury is full of humor and wit, pushback against outdated thinking on what women can or should do, and furthered connections among the residents of Highbury. I adored this book and can hardly wait to read the next Emma Knightley Mystery!

In the meantime, I’ll be adding Vanessa Kelly’s other books to my TBR; they’re mainly historical romances, which I love.

Special thanks to Vanessa Kelly, Kensington, Austenprose PR, and NetGalley for providing me with physical and digital ARCs of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Murder in Highbury here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Murder in Highbury by Vanessa Kelly
Series	An Emma Knightley Mystery (#1)
Audiobook Narrator	Polly Lee
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Mystery
Setting	England
Number of Pages	400
Format I Read	Paperback (ARC); Audiobook (ARC)
Original Publication Date	October 22, 2024
Publisher	Kensington

Official Summary

First in a captivating new series, Jane Austen’s Emma Knightley entertains a different role in Highbury—going from clever matchmaker to Regency England’s shrewdest sleuth.

Less than one year into her marriage to respected magistrate George Knightley, Emma has grown unusually content in her newfound partnership and refreshed sense of independence. The height of summer sees the former Miss Woodhouse gracefully balancing the meticulous management of her elegant family estate and a flurry of social engagements, with few worries apart from her beloved father’s health . . .  

But cheery circumstances change in an instant when Emma and Harriet Martin, now the wife of one of Mr. Knightley’s tenant farmers, discover a hideous shock at the local church. The corpse of Mrs. Augusta Elton, the vicar’s wife, has been discarded on the altar steps—the ornate necklace she often wore stripped from her neck . . .  

As a chilling murder mystery blooms and chaos descends upon the tranquil village of Highbury, the question isn’t simply who committed the crime, but who wasn’t secretly wishing for the unpleasant woman’s demise. When suspicions suddenly fall on a harmless local, Emma—armed with wit, unwavering determination, and extensive social connections—realizes she must discreetly navigate an investigation of her own to protect the innocent and expose the ruthless culprit hiding in plain sight.