Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective (Kelly Gardiner & Sharmini Kumar, HarperCollins)

Miss Caroline Bingley, the spurned love interest of Pride and Prejudice’s Mr Darcy, turns her prodigious mind to the problem of a missing maid, uncovering a murder and a dastardly plot along the way. Austen buffs Sharmini Kumar and Kelly Gardiner (Goddess, The Firewatcher Chronicles) have teamed up to recast the snobbish Miss Bingley as a precursor to Sherlock Holmes, albeit with the constraints of her gender and societal position to contend with. On the trail of Jayani, maid to the kind but naive Georgiana Darcy, Caroline explores a much less genteel side of Regency London than she’s used to. When she finds Jayani accused of her brother Sameer’s murder, Miss Bingley sets herself the mission of solving the mystery and clearing Jayani’s name. This historical crime rollicks along, reprising minor characters from Austen’s masterpiece alongside events like the 1814 Frost Fair and the machinations of the East India Company. While Caroline is clever, she is discovering the art of detection as she goes, and the modern reader is often a step ahead, knowing the genre’s hallmarks. The nuances of the plot still allow for surprises, combining artful twists and a healthy dose of action with considerable character development, while moments of comedy and revelation spring from the contrast between upstairs and downstairs sensibilities. Readers of Abir Mukherjee, Alison Goodman and, of course, Jane Austen, will be right at home with Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Annie Waters sells books, writes about books and podcasts about books. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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