Fans of Jane Austen are going to feel right at home with Miss Caroline Bingley for a lot of reasons - the style of this novel fits right into the period, the central characters are reimagined versions of those straight out of Pride and Prejudice, and the sense of place and time is strong. Granted Miss Bingley and her dear friend Georgiana are considerably more ... what's the word .. active, maybe freer than the original version. Granted also it's been a long time since I read Pride and Prejudice and I'm no Janeite (if that's the right word).
Set a couple of years after the events of Pride & Prejudice, Miss Bingley is visiting her brother's estate in Derbyshire, bored by the cold weather, and light amusements. Despite her loss in the battle for Mr Darcy's affections she has remained close to Georgiana, Mr Darcy's younger sister, and it is when her Indian maid, Jayani, disappears from Pemberley that Miss Bingley turns Private Detective and she and Miss Darcy head off to London in pursuit of the maid, accompanied by Bingley's loyal manservant Gordon.
Alas the tracing of Jayani (aka Jade) plunges them into the investigation of a brutal murder, and finds them face to face with a world that previously would not have existed for such privileged people, let alone women. Deep in the world of poverty, and brutal colonialism this novel takes the reader into the truth of the East India Company, the cruelty, exploitation and abuse that provided abject misery for many, and luxury and wealth for the few.
It's hard to avoid the feeling that the authors of this novel have purposely dragged a character who was more than a bit haughty and conceited into a world that suits her personality, and allows her to expand her expectations and interests. She comes across in this novel as witty, sharp, pointed and more than a bit opinionated, and that sits considerably more comfortably with the role of intrepid sleuth, someone whose disapproval is now able to be targeted more aptly.
Cosy in nature, mostly because of the style, and leaving aside the question of a brutal murder at its heart, MISS BINGLEY, PRIVATE DETECTIVE is obviously a novel that will work well for those of the Janeite persuasion. It would work for general fans of cosier novels as well. It's engaging and highly entertaining, sticking with its sense and sensibility all the way through.
Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective
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.
Add comment