Lydia Wickham’s Northern Peril

The Elizabeth Bennet Series Book 5

When Jane Bingley receives a letter from York telling her that her sister Lydia is in prison charged with forging the will of Fanny Roberts, a rich society widow, she is devastated. In the eighteenth century forgery carried the death penalty. Charles Bingley and Mr Davers, Caroline’s new husband, waste no time dashing off to the North of England to save Lydia.

They enlist the assistance of Darcy and Elizabeth who also drop everything and travel overnight to York with all possible speed. The four of them set about making enquiries and chasing down the witnesses to the will. They face a formidable task since Lydia’s accuser, Nicholas Parrish from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is an evil criminal who will stop at nothing to realise his ends and inherit Fanny’s estate himself. His cut-throat methods soon become painfully obvious.

Within a short time George Wickham and other family members have also arrived in the social capital of the North. Wickham has his own ideas how to defeat Parrish’s prosecution. Darcy finds himself having to deflect Wickham’s immediate plans with an ill-advised, joint escapade, then pursuing Wickham to Newcastle with a view to intercepting him before it is too late.

Dramatic scenes follow. Have Darcy and the others done enough to ensure that Lydia lives to flirt another day?