Austen characters in new settings

You may have noticed a recent trend of modern authors taking classic characters and putting them in new situations. The most popular characters seem to be Jane Austen's Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy, either before or after their marriage.

Carrie Bebris is one of those authors. She turned the Darcys into investigators and sent them through the Austen canon, introducing them to other Austen characters and expanding on their world. She wrote a series of six books (so far - I'm hoping more will be forthcoming, though since she's gone through all of Austen's other works, I doubt it). She starts with Pemberley in "Pride and Prescience," moves on to Norland and its environs in "Suspense and Sensibility" and sends the Darcys to Northanger Abbey in "North by Northanger" and to Mansfield Park in "Matters at Mansfield." They visit Donwell Abbey in "The Affair at Highbury" and the seaside in Lyme in "The Perils of Persuasion."

It was fun to see the interaction between the Darcys and other Austen characters like Elinor and Edward Ferrars and the Wentworths. Of course, they become better friends with some, which leads me to believe they'd meet again. Yes, I am aware they are fictional people, but if you've ever read Jasper Fforde, you know it could happen.

There's also P.D. James, who made them detectives as well, in "Death Comes to Pemberley," which Masterpiece Theatre recently made into a movie.

My favorite, though, has to be "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." Yes, it's exactly what you think when you read the title. It's "Pride and Prejudice" with a healthy dose of zombies roaming the English countryside. While some of the classics that have been reworked to add the supernatural become darker and more serious, PPZ doesn't. The writer simply took "Pride and Prejudice" and said, "you know, this is a great story. But I think it would be even better if there were zombies here and here and here." It doesn't take itself seriously, and I think that's part of its charm. If zombies can be charming. The rest of the "reworkings" tried too hard to be serious literature. But really, you can't really take "Little Women" seriously when it's revealed that the Lawrences are werewolves. Or "Sense and Sensibility" when you learn Col. Brandon is a sea monster.

I'm just saying.