Mysterious Mr. Darcy

As publication day approaches, I'm feeling the usual excitement I always feel when a new book comes out. I am very happy with this book in particular. It took some time to write, but I was thrilled by the way it all came together. This is my first "dark" Darcy -- I'm used to writing comedy so I was a bit hesitant when the idea of this particular Darcy come to me.

However, I surprised myself. I am completely captivated by this Mr. Darcy. He comes with a lot of baggage, but that sort of makes him a better person in many ways to start with. That may be arguable, I suppose, because he is still as reserved and uncommunicative at the beginning of the novel, but for entirely different reasons.

Anyway, I don't want to give too much away at this stage. Hopefully as I go along, I'll get a chance to answer questions and talk more about this particular Mr. Darcy. But for now, here is the blurb.

Three years after the original events of Pride & Prejudice, Darcy receives a visit in his isolated manor in Cornwall. It is Charles Bingley, and he has come to ask for a favour…

There is nothing Elizabeth Bennet likes more than a laugh – except for a mystery. From the moment she first encounters Mr. Darcy, she senses he is hiding something. But the more she tries to find out about who he is, the more evasive he becomes. However, Elizabeth soon turns her attention to someone else. As Mrs. Bennet points out, Mr. Darcy is a nobody, and Elizabeth needs to marry someone who can provide for her and her sisters.

Meanwhile, Mr. Darcy doesn’t want anyone to know about the scandal that haunts him from the past. He certainly doesn’t need someone like Miss Bennet, who asks him questions and tries to slip him up. Fortunately, he is more than equal to the task of putting her off. What he doesn’t expect is that before he knows it, he finds himself longing to tell her the truth.

Are Elizabeth and Darcy meant to come together in this variation, or is Elizabeth destined for somebody else?

Note: Mysterious Mr. Darcy is not a mystery. It is a ‘what-if’ in which Mr. Darcy has to deal with the consequences of his past, a past that will change the shape of his future.