A missing maid. A murder most foul. A highly imprudent adventure. Only her fine eyes can uncover the truth. Two years after the events of Pride and Prejudice, Miss Caroline Bingley is staying at her brother's country estate within an easy ride of Mr and Mrs Darcy's home, Pemberley, and wondering if there's more to life than playing cribbage and paying calls on country neighbours. So when Georgiana Darcy's maid, Jayani, vanishes - and worse, Georgiana disappears in search of her - Caroline races to London to find them both, and quickly discovers a shocking, cold-blooded murder. Soon Caroline and Georgiana are careering through the gritty, grimy underbelly of London assisted by Caroline's trusty manservant, Gordon, and demanding answers of shady characters, police magistrates and mysterious East India Company-men to discover the killer. Along the way they uncover the cost of Empire on India and its people ... and Miss Bingley's incomparable powers of investigation. As Caroline puts her superior new talents to work, she finds out exactly what an accomplished, independent woman with a sharp mind and a large fortune can achieve - even when pitted against secrets, scandal, and a murderer with no mercy.
Authors
Kelly Gardiner's latest series for young readers is a time slip adventure trilogy called 'The Firewatcher Chronicles': Brimstone(2019), Phoenix (2020) and Vigil (2021). Her previous novel was '1917: Australia's Great War', set in Flanders and in Melbourne during the First World War. Her novel 'Goddess' was based on the life of the remarkable Julie d'Aubigny, also known as Mademoiselle de Maupin - a 17th century opera singer and swordswoman. Kelly's other books include the young adult novels 'The Sultan's Eyes' and 'Act of Faith' (HarperCollins); and for younger readers, 'Billabong Bill's Bushfire Christmas' (Random House) and the ‘Swashbuckler!’ trilogy (HarperCollins): 'Ocean Without End', 'The Pirate's Revenge' and 'The Silver Swan'. Kelly teaches writing at La Trobe University. She is also the co-host of Unladylike, a podcast about women and writing. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
