Pride and Prejudice

Miss Caroline Bingley continues her tour of the Antipodes, with Sharmini and me appearing alongside Alison Goodman in our Regency Roadshow, so you get to hear about Miss Bingley and the feisty heroines of The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin.

Here’s where we are (in various combinations) next:

Launches at the Library In a way, it all started at a Jane Austen seminar in the Library at La Trobe University, hosted by my dear colleague Kylie Mirmohamadi many years ago. Now Kylie’s gorgeous novel, Diving, Falling, is out and so is ours, so we’re celebrating both books, with Sharmini, Kylie and me in conversation with another dear colleague, Carrie Tiffany. 12.30, 29 April, Seminar room 1.34, Bundoora campus Library, La Trobe.

Books in Bars Join Sharmini and me for a great night of cosy crime and murder (well, talking about murder), with the good folks of Dymocks Geelong. 6:30pm, 30 April, Waurn Ponds Hotel.

Utter Ruin! I’m interrogating – I mean, interviewing – Alison about her new book, The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin, hosted by the lovely people at Ulysses Books, on 8 May. 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm, in the bookshop itself, in Hampton.

A Very Austen Afternoon The fabulous Wendys at Bookish in Bendigo have invited Alison and me to celebrate Miss Austen’s 250th birthday with a high tea and a conversation with the delightful author Katrina Nannestad, to discuss all things Austenesque – mystery, manners and the role of women in the Regency period. 2:30pm, 10 May, Mackenzie Quarter, Bendigo.

The same day, Sharmini is taking part in another very special Austen celebration: Jane Austen’s Music, Pemberley Revisited. In this performance, Austen’s razor-sharp wit and keen observations on love and society come vividly to life through carefully chosen readings and period-perfect musical selections, performed by Rachael Beesley, Aura Go, and Lizzy Bennet’s Band. Afterwards, Sharmini will be in conversation with Melbourne book editor, event moderator and bookseller, Jaclyn Crupi about Jane Austen, her literature and her legacy. 4pm, 10 May, at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Anna Chancellor as Miss Bingley in the 1995 TV adaptation of *Pride & Prejudice*

Book cover of Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective. Tagline: A missing maid. Murder most foul. A highly imprudent adventure.

I’m thrilled to announce that Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective, a new novel co-written with Sharmini Kumar, is now available for pre-order before release in April in the UK, Australia and NZ. It’s out in the US in July (US pre-order details coming soon).

How gorgeous is this cover design by Andrew Davis?

Thanks to HarperCollins Australia & New Zealand, HarperHQ and HarperVia for bringing our tribute to Miss Austen on her 250th birthday out into the world.

You can pre-order your copy here.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single lady in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a mystery to solve.

Here’s the idea;

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.

We can’t wait for you to read it.

Kelly Gardiner

The Regency Roadshow, part 2

Here she is!