The Late Mrs. Willoughby

A Novel

By: Claudia Gray

Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown

The suspenseful sequel to The Murder of Mr. Wickham, which sees Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney reunited, and with another mystery to solve: the dreadful poisoning of the scoundrel Willoughby's new wife.

“An absolute page-turner full of well-plotted mystery and hints of simmering romance.... More of the Jane Austen characters we love (as well as those we love to hate).”—Mia P. Manansala, author of Arsenic and Adobo

Catherine and Henry Tilney of Northanger Abbey are not entirely pleased to be sending their eligible young daughter Juliet out into the world again: the last house party she attended, at the home of the Knightleys, involved a murder—which Juliet helped solve. Particularly concerning is that she intends to visit her new friend Marianne Brandon, who's returned home to Devonshire shrouded in fresh scandal—made more potent by the news that her former suitor, the rakish Mr. Willoughby, intends to take up residence at his local estate with his new bride.

Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley are thrilled that their eldest son, Jonathan—who, like his father, has not always been the most socially adept—has been invited to stay with his former schoolmate, John Willoughby. Jonathan himself is decidedly less taken with the notion of having to spend extended time under the roof of his old bully, but that all changes when he finds himself reunited with his fellow amateur sleuth, the radiant Miss Tilney. And when shortly thereafter, Willoughby's new wife—whom he married for her fortune—dies horribly at the party meant to welcome her to town.

With rumors flying and Marianne—known to be both unstable and previously jilted by the dead woman's newly made widower—under increased suspicion, Jonathan and Juliet must team up once more to uncover the murderer. But as they collect clues and close in on suspects, eerie incidents suggest that the killer may strike again, and that the pair are in far graver danger than they or their families could imagine.

A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.

©2023 Claudia Gray (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“An absolute page-turner full of well-plotted mystery and hints of simmering romance, The Late Mrs. Willoughby expands on Gray’s wonderfully original amateur sleuths, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney, while bringing in more of the Jane Austen characters we love (as well as those we love to hate). This is fast becoming one of my favorite series and I’m already eager for the next installment!” —Mia P. Manansala, author of Homicide and Halo-Halo and Arsenic and Adobo

“Delightful. Claudia Gray is systematically taking out all of the unpleasant characters in Jane Austen’s novels, and I am here for it.” —Juneau Black, author of Shady Hollow

“A delectable treat of a read, blending the world of Austen with a gripping and gorgeous detective story—the word romp was practically made for this book!” —Sophie Irwin, author of A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting

Really Enjoyed This Second Book!

This was fun and well written. Gray creates interesting story lines with the characters us Janeites love, while adding some intriguing new characters in Jonathan and Juliet. Parts were suspenseful, and I enjoyed this book even more than the first. These books are pure fluffy fun and great entertainment for relaxing. I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

A great second installment!

I enjoyed the second installment very much! I loved seeing familiar characters and new as well. I look forward to Jonathan and Juliet’s sorry evolving more and can’t wait for the next book. The narration was very great!

Juliet and Jonathan are on the case

I was very excited for this book. The first book in the series was so well plotted and really kept me guessing until the end. While the ultimate mystery was a little easier to solve this go round, I still really enjoyed the story. Can't wait to see how Juliet and Jonathan next get thrown together!

This Series is Taking A Special Place In My Heart

This series is taking a special place in my heart. I adore exploring cozy mysteries with Jane Austen's many characters. Yet again, this was absolutely delightful. While it does start off not feeling quite as engaging as this first book in this series, I found that it picks up decently fast. Even if this one was a tad easy to solve, I was thoroughly invested. I still enjoyed reading about Juliet and Jonathan solving mysteries and falling in love with each other. I'm firmly in the camp of rooting for them to get together. I’m already looking forward to the next installment.

Enjoyable read

This was a light hearted listen. Obviously reminiscent to Austen and very enjoyable. Recommend, for sure.

Love Juliet and Jonathan - they are great together

This is the second book in a fabulous series. It features a new favorite couple, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney. I fell in love with them in the first book and that love affair is continuing after this book, Jonathan and Juliet joined up at a house party in the first book to investigate the murder of the villainous George Wickham. Now as they both attend another house party at the Willoughby's home and now must investigate the murder by poison of Mrs. Willoughby. This series has a hodgepodge mixture of characters from several of Jane Austen's novels. I usually don't like that (it is an overload of characters in my opinion) but it works in this book. The author has a good imagination and I had a difficult time deciding on who did what. Many people have good motivation for murder in both the first and second books. The sad thing about all of this is that I now must wait until June of 2024 for the third book, which I definitely will purchase.
The narrator is excellent. She does not "overdo" the characters. All is smooth and convincing.

Such fun!

I very much enjoyed the second book in Claudia Gray's Austen-Universe. There is no shortage of adaptations of Austen's stories and characters. What is so refreshing about Claudia's stories is that the characters read so very much as if they are exactly the continuation of Austen's original heroes and heroines. I look forward to reading the third book.

Truly such a joy for my Jane Austen loving heart 🥹

Claudia Gray—please write more of these books!

One of the great literary griefs of my life is that Jane Austen can’t write us sequels to her novels. In the first book in this series (The Death of Mr. Wickham), it took me a few chapters to warm up to the concept: many Jane Austen characters, from different books, all spending time together in one story? But quickly I realized that Gray knows her stuff. Even if you’re a total purist about this kind of thing, (admittedly, I am not), Gray’s writing captures the heart of who each Austen character is; it’s such a joy to hear their voices and imagine their struggles and successes beyond matrimony. While listening, I have never once thought, “Marianne never would have said that,” or “Edward Ferrars wouldn’t do that.” It was a smart move, too, to ensure that the primary protagonists—Juliet Tilney and Jonathan Darcy—are children of Austen characters. Because we didn’t meet them in Austen’s novels, we don’t have any expectations of how they will act or who they will be.

So many modern Austen-inspired pieces clearly have based their creations less on the source texts themselves, and more on the vague concepts of them as love stories or, at best, on movie adaptations. This series is different, clearly coming from a person with detailed knowledge of, love of, and respect for the original books. For example, Gray doesn’t romance-wash Marianne Brandon’s initial decision to marry Colonel Brandon; instead, she shows how romantic love blossoms between them.

Gray is also able to write with modern sensibilities and knowledge that Austen didn’t have, which she does without breaching the period accuracy. For example, Jonathan Darcy is strongly implied to be on the Autism spectrum, but it is never named, since they wouldn’t have had a name for it in the late 1700’s. It’s so great to read a story of a person who did indeed exist and live and struggle during that time period, whose story was largely untold in books of the era. Moreover, I love love LOVE to see someone with ASD represented as a hero and love interest, as this group is largely underrepresented even in modern love stories!

Billie Fulford-Brown is a delightful narrator and I think MUST have read Jane Austen, or Sense and Sensibility at the very least, because she captures the various personalities with perfection.

Crossing my fingers for more to come!

Delightful romp with the Austen families

For a died-in-the-wool Jane Austen fanatic like me, you might think I wouldn't like the "next chapter" approach to continuing the stories of her wonderful families. But I loved this book and the one previous, The Murder of Mr. Wickham. Claudia Gray has studied Jane Austen's style but doesn't try to imitate it. Instead, she uses her own skills to construct a believable and delightful story, getting our old friends all together at house parties (brilliantly) and retaining each with their own personalities built by Austen, but adding a new generation that can have their own characters. I found this to be a great entertainment, and fulfilled my longing to spend more time with Jane Austen's timeless characters. Bravo, Claudia Gray! Encore!

Just Good Fun!

I really enjoyed this part two. The narrator is lively, and the story is so interesting and entertaining. I find it so fun to “spend time” with favorite characters in these novels. I’m looking forward to Part 3!