Mr. Darcy's Cipher, by Violet King

What a charming diversion. Elizabeth and her father have a common task, they decode secret messages for The Crown. Mr. Bennett started the work and then showed his young daughter, Jane, what he was doing. She tried it for a while but didn't take to it.

But then Lizzy came along and asked to see what he was doing and low and behold she has a skill with numbers, logic and puzzles. Thus she begins helping her father.

As time passes her father's eyesight starts to go dim and Lizzy takes on more and more of the work. She is quite good at what she does.

Then along comes a Prideful young man, Mr. Darcy. He has a letter from his brother (yeah a deviation from the original story, but this is a variation book) Reginald who was in France on business for the Crown, he was a military man. The letter was to Georgiana, but it contained a code and Mr. Darcy wants to have it deciphered so that he doesn't cause undo grief to his sister, because, well, Reginald was murdered in France and she is distraught.

Needless to say Darcy and Lizzy have their differences. Mostly around the fact that young woman shouldn't have this type of job. But Lizzy is good at what she does and she decipher's a code about a plot to kill the Regent.

The story is very well written. The characters keep true to their original character traits. The plot is interesting and brings a whole new twist to the lives of Lizzy and Darcy.

This is the first book in what is to be a series of books. I can't wait for the second book. This series will prove to be a great delight and diversion from my normal Jane Austen reading.

Thank you Violet King for this wonderful variation.