Writer: Kelly Miller
Narrator: Vicky-Jo Eva
Ebook: Free to read on Amazon Unlimited
Paperback: $9.99
Audiobook: $17.46
Release Date: March 25, 2024
Rory enjoys playing along the beach in Ramsgate. When her Collie brings the ball to a young blonde woman, Elizabeth chats with her. Then, a dark-haired man accuses Elizabeth of using Rory to meet them. Elizabeth hopes to avoid meeting the rude stranger again during her seaside holiday. But how might her life change should her path intersect with the dark-haired Adonis? Let's put on our finery, pack our revolvers, leap into The Mysterious Disappearance of Mr Darcy, and find out!
Story
When Elizabeth Bennett meets the man and his sister again at Mrs Stapleton's house, Georgiana greets her happily. Her brother, Fitzwilliam Darcy, apologizes for mistaking Elizabeth's intentions. Elizabeth's admission that she initially thought him incapable of understanding the importance of kindness and respect leaves him humbled. So when Darcy notices Elizabeth has been reading An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke, he asks her opinion of Book IV. Elizabeth appreciates his receptiveness to her interpretations. Darcy likes how Elizabeth has thought through her opinions and can discuss the merits of their differing views without arguing.
In The Mysterious Disappearance of Mr Darcy, Elizabeth begins meeting Darcy on her morning walks. Despite her aunt's request that Elizabeth not meet with him privately, the wide-ranging conversations help them appreciate each other better. While Darcy and his sister enjoy the summer in Ramsgate, Mrs Rebecca Stapleton invited Modesty Gardiner and her niece to spend August with her. As Elizabeth's month in Ramsgate nears its end, neither she nor Darcy wishes to part from the other. So, after a short engagement, Elizabeth becomes Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Despite Georgiana’s approval of Elizabeth, not everyone in Darcy’s family believes he made the correct choice. Some, like Lady Matlock, insist Darcy should have married someone from a titled or wealthier family. Nor do all his relatives accept Elizabeth's ability to oversee his correspondence and finances. These factors become important considerations when he goes missing after a shooting in The Mysterious Disappearance of Mr Darcy.
Art
Firstly, Kelly Miller differentiates her novel by setting it in Ramsgate and London instead of more familiar locales like Longbourn and Pemberly. While Elizabeth braves the disdain of Darcy’s family, she also faces the dangers of England’s bustling capital. Darcy trained her to use a gun. Elizabeth believes the staff, overseen by their butler Slade, can protect her on their house and grounds. Still, someone shot the man who accompanied Darcy to the house in Camberwell. So when she leaves the house, Elizabeth takes a gun with her.
Given the influx of foreigners following the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power, Mr Ellis from the Alien Office investigates Darcy's disappearance. Joshua Webb, who attended Cambridge with Darcy, stays in the house and helps Elizabeth question anyone claiming to have seen him. Still, none of Darcy's close friends know him. In The Mysterious Disappearance of Mr Darcy, Elizabeth finds herself a stranger in a strange land, intent on protecting Georgiana, discovering what happened to her beloved husband, and not knowing who she can rely on.
In addition to placing Elizabeth in different locations, Kelly Miller also isolates Elizabeth from her family. By meeting Elizabeth while she and her aunt stay at Mrs Stapleton's house, Darcy doesn't view her in terms of her family's societal stumbles. Nor does he feel obliged to protect Charles Bingley's interests or observe propriety around Bingley's sisters and brother-in-law when they lease Netherfield Park near the Bennetts' home.
Lastly, by shortening the period between their first meeting and marriage to six weeks, Kelly Miller gives the couple sufficient time for love to bloom but not for Elizabeth to know Darcy well. Nor did Darcy have a year to think through what life with Elizabeth would be like. Perhaps, as Lady Catherine de Bourgh suggests, her nephew had second thoughts about his union with Elizabeth and "disappeared" to get his life back on track.
Final Thoughts
Kelly Miller's prose captures the elegance and romance of England's Regency period. Her story allows Elizabeth, Darcy, and Georgiana to shine in this new variation of Jane Austen's immortal novel. Enhanced by Vicky-Jo Eva’s cultured voice, the audiobook spirits you back to Regency England, portraying Miller's narrative and Jane Austen's characters with captivating realism in The Mysterious Disappearance of Mr Darcy.
Rating: 5 Stars
Thank you for the review, David!
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