Bingley's Deception

A Villainous Charles Bingley Pride and Prejudice Novella

Ten years of friendship. One decade of lies. And a dog who saw it all.

In Bingley’s Deception, the "Hero of Oxford" is a wolf in silk clothing. William Darcy has spent his adult life in the shadow of a life-debt, believing Charles Bingley saved him from a brutal attack during their university days. Bound by honor and a misplaced sense of loyalty, Darcy remains blind to the fact that his best friend is a cold-blooded fraudster running a fraud scheme on the London Exchange.

While Darcy provides the social shield Bingley needs to hunt his next victims, a tiny Yorkshire Terrier named Button recognizes the predator behind the practiced smile. When an honest George Wickham—an investigator trained in the grit of trade—threatens to expose the fraud, Bingley turns to murder to protect his masquerade.

The resulting ambush on a narrow Hertfordshire lane leaves Darcy wounded and the party trapped at Longbourn. As a midnight siege looms and an assassin stalks the woods, an unlikely team must rise to save the Master of Pemberley: a brilliant barrister named William Collins, a resilient Elizabeth Bennet, and the dog who never let the truth go. In this gripping novella, the ledger of the past is finally settled, proving that integrity is found not in a gentleman’s rank, but in his deeds.

A good story idea that was poorly executed.

This story had an interesting plot with Bingley as a ruthless villain, but the story lacked structure and a workable timeline. The scenes and descriptions of an evil Bingley and a frightened Caroline were chilling and great. But everything else was a mess. The characters have all read P&P as they know things about each other and events from P&P that do not happen in this story.

There are a number of examples where characters interact as though they have read the original P&P. Elizabeth has met Darcy twice, and they danced at the assembly. He did not insult her. Yet, she contemplates the problem of his “pride.” Wait, what? He never behaved that way in front of her. Instead, he instantly fell in love with her. She could only consider him prideful if she had read the original P&P, as all the characters here seem to have done.

The male virtual voice was okay. I’m not a fan of virtual voice, but I sometimes listen to stories with virtual voice.