]My other question has to do with the Darcys--particularly Lizzy--as detectives. One thing I've noticed very often in mysteries--especially when the protagonist is an ordinary person who just happens upon the mystery or when she is female--is that friction inevitably occurs when the people close to them want to stop pursuing it. To be clear, I don't mean to say that this is a formulaic element or anything--just that it's a natural thing to happen in that situation, so naturally it occurs frequently in this genre. I briefly thought this was going to happen with Lizzy and Darcy when she decided to call on Miss Kendall in order to get more information about the riding incident, but it didn't pan out that way.

]Anyway, I know you said earlier that the two of them make a good team for detective work, but I wonder about how this undertaking will affect their relationship. What do you think the events of this book tell us about the Darcys' marriage and their prospects for future happiness? Are they the kind of couple that can handle the emotional baggage that goes along with mystery solving, time and time again? Or are they likely to fall prey to the arguments that go along with worries over one another's safety, disbelief and other related issues? Of course, I don't mean to ask for specifics on your future books; rather, in your writing of this book, how do you envision the Darcys balancing their marital relationship with the extraordinary demands of mystery-solving?

These are good questions, Tori Marie. Like any newly married couple, the Darcys are going to have to negotiate the blending of two families, backgrounds, upbringings, etc., and their differences in fortune and connections will add challenges to that process. The mystery-solving might actually provide a focus for displacing other conflicts—that is, by debating some aspect of a case, they might be able to work through some issue in their own relationship without ever directly articulating it. (I somehow doubt pre-Freudian couples engaged in the kind of relationship-analysis discussions that we do today. Elizabeth and Darcy are not Bridget Jones and Darcy.) I think the Darcys' marriage will also be protected from some of the mystery-solving baggage by the fact that they would not, in their own minds, consider themselves sleuths. Because the mysteries they find themselves investigating involve family and friends, they're more likely to think of their actions simply as helping someone they know, which, given the high value placed on personal honor in that period, might not even be perceived by them as a choice depending on the circumstances. Yes, they will still be worried about one another's safety, etc., but because of their personal involvement the stakes are higher and walking away isn't an option.

]Thanks again for coming here and and so generously answering our questions.