Pan Macmillan wins five-way auction for Amelia Blackwell's time-travelling Jane Austen spin-off

Pan Macmillan has acquired a new cosy crime series by Amelia Blackwell featuring a time-travelling Georgiana Darcy.

Alex Saunders, editorial director at Pan Macmillan, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada rights at auction from Eve White of the Eve White Literary Agency for A Crime Through Time and two other novels. 

It will be published in hardback, e-book and audiobook in July 2025, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with a paperback to come the following year.

A Crime Through Time: Miss Darcy Investigates is dubbed by Pan Macmillan “a charming, amusing and genre-bending cosy crime spin-off series from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice that has the added speculative hook of a time travelling twist”.

The series follows Georgiana Darcy (Fitzwilliam Darcy’s younger sister) who leads a privileged but quiet life in Georgian England. When she discovers a mysterious device of unknown origin – emblazoned only with the words “Motorola” and “New Page”, along with numerals that might denote a date: 01/05/95 – hidden deep in the woods of Pemberley, Georgiana’s life takes an extraordinary turn. 

The blurb states: “Pemberley, 1799. When Miss Georgiana Darcy attempts to escape an unwanted marriage proposal, she isn’t expecting to end up quite so far from home. But after encountering a mysterious object in the nearby woods, she finds herself transported almost 200 years into the future.

“Saltram, 1995. At a grand country house where a film crew are busy shooting the latest Jane Austen adaptation, a murder has been committed. And Miss Darcy – newly arrived, impeccably dressed and thoroughly confused – is the only witness.

“It soon becomes clear that, somehow, Georgiana was meant to solve this riddle. With the help of a distractingly handsome Irishman named Quinn and a border collie named Watson, she sets out to stop the killer before they can strike again. But meanwhile, trouble is brewing back at Pemberley and time, it seems, is not on her side.

“As she unlocks the secrets of the device, she discovers its remarkable ability to transport her through time. Eager to escape the narrow confines of her life, explore the future and solve mysteries, she embarks on a thrilling journey as a time-travelling detective. With each leap into a different era, Georgiana’s sharp intellect and keen intuition become invaluable assets in unravelling complex cases.” 

Saunders said: “From the first page I was hooked in by this very unusual crime novel which features Miss Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. We learn very little about Georgiana from Austen’s classic novel, and I think it’s wonderfully imaginative how Amelia has seized this character, given her a distinct personality and built a series idea around her time-travelling escapades.”

Blackwell added: “Georgiana Darcy is an enigmatic figure in Pride and Prejudice, though she doesn’t have a single line of dialogue, so it has been great fun to give her a voice in A Crime Through Time and reimagine her as cosy crime detective searching for a killer on the mean streets of Plymouth in 1995.” 

White said: “Georgiana Darcy’s troubles and travels are as gripping as they are fun. We were impressed by Alex’s vision for the series so I am very happy that it will be published on the Pan list.”