Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Quirk Books. 320 pages. $12.95

Anyone who reads knows the name Elizabeth Bennett, Jane Austen's spirited, sensible heroine who is one of Hertfordshire's most fearless zombie slayers and critical to the county's defense.

Yes, that last part is correct, at least in this supernatural version of the classic. The new material is written in dry, proper 18th-century-style English and blends violent chaos very well with the original. All the characters remain: Darcy is still proud, Jane is still sweet, Lady Catherine is still a snob. They just have a greater chance of being eaten alive. The new stuff also includes fun illustrations, such as Elizabeth dispatching a zombie with a kick to the head and the undead eating the kitchen staff at a party that takes a horrible turn..

The morals of the story are unchanged: Don't be too proud, don't be too close-minded, don't be thoughtless and giddy. Oh, and don't look down on a woman just because she received training in China, not Japan. She may not let you live to regret it.

-- Suzanne Wardle is a copy editor for The Roanoke Times