REVIEW: A Crime Through Time by Amelia Blackwell

ABOUT THE BOOK

Cozy, quirky, and utterly enthralling, A Crime Through Time is the debut from Amelia Blackwell – the start of a series where crime, time travel and Jane Austen collide.

Pemberley, 1799. When Miss Georgiana Darcy attempts to escape an unwanted marriage proposal, she isn’t expecting to end up quite so far from home. But after encountering a mysterious object in the nearby woods, she finds herself transported almost two hundred years into the future.

Saltram, 1995. At a grand country house where a film crew is busy shooting the latest Jane Austen adaptation, a terrible crime has been committed. And Miss Darcy—newly arrived, impeccably dressed and thoroughly confused—is the only witness.

It soon becomes clear that Georgiana was meant to solve this riddle. With the help of a distractingly handsome Irishman named Quinn and a border collie named Watson, she sets out to stop the killer before they can strike again. But meanwhile, trouble is brewing back at Pemberley and time, it seems, is not on her side . . .

OPENING LINES “…Georgiana’s heart leapt as she left the neat lawns about the house and strode towards the dark expanse of the wood.  This was a wilderness in which she could breathe.”

A Crime Through Time by Amelia Blackwell. Publication March 31, 2026

GUEST REVIEW by Sophia Rose

What could be more tempting than a cozy mystery-time travel-Pride & Prejudice sequel? A Crime Through Time: The Pride and Prejudice Mystery with A Time Travel Twist (Miss Darcy Investigates Book 1). I eagerly dove into the start of a new series by a new-to-me author, Amelia Blackwell.

Georgiana Darcy comes across a mysterious device in Pemberley woods and is carried forward 200 years in time, only to be dropped at the scene of a recent murder, which happens to be on the set of a period historical drama (Sense & Sensibility done Bridgerton-style).  

Her confusion over where and when she is has her less concerned than the body she finds, but her new acquaintance with a handsome Irishman helps her acclimate, and eventually she turns her attention to the murder.

Georgiana learns how to work the mysterious device to travel back and forth through time. There is a crisis building back home as her brother, who wants the best for her, is trying to pair her with a man of wealth and position. Yet, she has zero interest in him, and her beloved sister-in-law, Elizabeth, struggles through a difficult pregnancy and illness. Georgiana only has her cousin Anne on her side, but, of course, she keeps her time-traveling secret.

Eventually, both worlds come to a crisis, and Georgiana must make a dreadful choice.

Amelia Blackwell, author

A Crime Through Time was a slow-build drama. It took me a bit to warm up to Georgiana. She’s got her upper-class sniff over what she sees as "common" or "vulgar," but I also found her curious and caring, too. Georgiana lives a sheltered life and has little agency in her time, and, in the future, she is confused and put off by much. She also gains confidence in herself and a greater appreciation for how others (aka lower classes in the future) live.  

So, there is a cozy mystery in there, but I felt the book was more about George, as her Irish friend calls her, coming into her own, her budding romance with Quinn, and the mysterious nature of her time-traveling (the device tends to move her about rather than her choosing when to go or come).  Though a satisfying ending for the mystery and for her life at Pemberley, there is also a sense that there are more wonderful time-traveling adventures for Georgiana Darcy. All in all, A Crime Through Time was a delightful hodge-podge of genre elements that I thought came together splendidly, especially for a series debut.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amelia Blackwell has a master’s degree in Creative Writing, a corn snake called Colin, and a deep love of the works of Jane Austen. Although the Boleyns appear in her family tree, it’s through marriage, not blood, which is probably just as well. Georgiana Darcy’s most persistent suitor, Baron John de Halighwell, takes his name from one of Amelia’s distant great-grandfathers, who lived in a mansion that even Lady Catherine de Bourgh would admire. Amelia lives with her husband and children in a tiny house by the sea in Cornwall.

Sophia Rose, guest reviewer

ABOUT SOPHIA ROSE, Guest reviewer

Sophia is a quiet, curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants, and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and a loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, baseball, cats, Scooby Doo, and chocolate. As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. In 2012, she submitted her first book review and is currently an associate reviewer.

Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener, which allows her to experience many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction, particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Sorry, no horror...or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby. Connect with Sophia via FACEBOOK GOODREADS TWITTER