July Book Club: The Framing of George Wickham by Mindy Killgrove
The Framing of George Wickham by Mindy Killgrove
If you wondered what became of Lydia and Wickham after the elopement in Pride and Prejudice, this book has ideas. Spoiler: it is not a happily ever after.
Killgrove picks up the story years later. Lydia Wickham has been struck down in broad daylight, and everyone immediately looks at her husband. Which, given Wickham’s established reputation as a charming, self-serving scoundrel, is a completely reasonable place to start. The investigation falls to Kitty, Lydia’s sister and now a married woman herself, alongside a neighbor named Andrew Selkirk who is supposed to be recovering from an injury but has decided that helping solve crimes counts as rest.
The mystery is genuinely engaging. Wickham has motive, but so does nearly everyone else in the story, and Killgrove keeps the suspects shuffling convincingly. The historical details are well done. The language and social dynamics feel authentic to the period rather than like a modern story stuffed into a corset. If you love Regency-era fiction or Jane Austen retellings, the atmosphere here will feel like familiar territory.
Kitty makes a fun, if relentlessly nosy, sleuth. She has grown up a bit from her P&P days. Her impulse to poke around where she probably shouldn’t has not grown up at all.
Fair warning on the characters: this version of Lydia is somewhat reimagined from Austen’s original, and the book takes creative liberties with who has been faithful to whom. Whether that is annoying might depend on how attached you are to the source material. (It’s been a while since I reread P&P, so I’ll let you judge for yourself.)
Now, the honest part: the ending. I read this a while back and reread the final chapter before writing this, mostly to refresh my memory about why the ending twist came completely out of nowhere. I never suspected the right person. Whether Killgrove played fair and I missed the hints, or the ending arrives a little abruptly, I genuinely cannot tell you.
I picked this up during one of those free stuff your e-reader events, and it was a good find. If you’re an Austen fan who wants to revisit these characters in a darker, twistier story, it’s worth your time.
Kelly Brakenhoff is the author of 17 books and a seasoned ASL interpreter. She splits her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and children’s books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog.
In 2025, two of her children’s books were selected for the CBC Favorites Award Lists, honored by teachers and librarians nationwide for excellence in children’s literature. Parents, kids, and educators love the Duke the Deaf Dog books and activity guides because they introduce ASL and the Deaf community through engaging stories.
And if you enjoy a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, the Cassandra Sato Mystery series will have you connecting the dots faster than a group project thrown together the night before it’s due.
A proud mom to four adults, head of the dog-snuggling department, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.