Month: January 2019

A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

A Treacherous Curse (Veronica Speedwell #3)A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Veronica Speedwell #3
Publication Date: 1/16/18
Number of Pages: 320

This is the third book the late-Victorian Veronica Speedwell series. It features lepidopterist Veronica who is bold, unconventional, outspoken (to the point of being overbearing) and the handsome Revelstoke Templeton-Vane (Stoker). I read the first book in the series and loved everything about it except Veronica, so I decided to skip ahead in the series and see if she had mellowed any at all. She is still arrogant, superior, condescending and overbearing, but she’s not quite as bad as in the first book, so I’ll definitely try another one – hoping that she continues to mellow a bit. This author’s mysteries and writing are always top-notch, it is only the female lead for which I haven’t been able to work up any enthusiasm – I don’t hate her, I just don’t care for her very much and we’d never be good friends. I am excited to see where the series heads from here!

I am not going to complain because I dearly wanted to learn more about Stoker’s past – and I was delighted to learn a lot more – but that knowledge did come at the expense of the mystery. The mystery was still excellent, just not as intricately complex as the others in the series. We didn’t learn all about Stoker, but we did learn a lot more than we knew before. We meet his ex-wife and find out some of what happened between them – and it wasn’t pretty.

Veronica and Stoker are summoned to the sickbed of Sir Hugo Montgomerie of the Special Branch. Sir Hugo wants them to look into the disappearance of Stoker’s former best friend, John de Morgan. De Morgan had been working as a photographer on the Tiverton expedition in Egypt. The expedition made an extraordinary find and de Morgan disappeared with one of the priceless artifacts. Veronica and Stoker have to take on the investigation because of Stoker’s past with de Morgan – and it won’t be long before the newspapers track down that past and bring Stoker’s name into scandal again. Stoker might even be blamed for the disappearance and/or death of de Morgan.

The mystery rocks on and I began to wonder if they would ever get the clue to solving the case, but when they get it, things just explode and it is non-stop action from there on out.

I know I have said, repeatedly, that I don’t care for Veronica, but I do absolutely love how she protects and defends Stoker. No matter what she hears about him or from whom she hears it – she absolutely never doubts Stoker. She will look out for him even to her own detriment. (BTW – the author has really toned down the “Hey look at me I’m unconventional” rantings that were in the first book and I’m so very glad). Their relationship isn’t all one-sided though. Stoker is the same way about her.

One thing I find very entertaining is the role reversal in this series. Veronica has had liaisons and is very free with admitting them, speaking about sex, etc. and isn’t the least bit embarrassed about it. Stoker, on the other hand, is almost prudish. Not that he hasn’t had liaisons, but it just isn’t something he speaks about with ladies and he embarrasses so easily. So, in this series – she is uninhibited and he is missish. They are two societal outcasts who are absolutely perfect for each other – can’t wait until they realize they love each other.

I definitely recommend this author, this book and this series.

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

On By BarbaraIn Audiobook, Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Victorian Era (1837-1901)1 Comment

A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1)A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Veronica Speedwell #1
Publication Date: 7/12/16
Number of Pages: 340

I have been curious about Ms. Raybourn’s new series since it first came out, but this was my first opportunity to read any of the books. I love this author’s writing and plotting style and wondered how I’d feel about Veronica since I had thoroughly disliked Lady Julia in the earlier series. Unfortunately, I really, really, really did not like Veronica. Don’t get me wrong, I love a strong, pragmatic, practical, intelligent, and decisive heroine but that wasn’t what I got. In my opinion, Veronica is self-centered, overbearing and arrogant – and I’d dislike those traits in a man or a woman. She also goes on and on and on about how unconventional she is. Maybe it hit me so strongly because I listened to the audiobook and it just felt like those things were pounding into my brain. That is why my true rating for this book is 3.75 rounded up to 4. The mystery was excellent, the tension between Stoker and Veronica was excellent – well – everything was excellent except Veronica herself. I will try another book from later in the series to see if Veronica has mellowed into a real human rather than the caricature she seemed to be in this book.

Veronica Speedwell was a foundling who was taken in by two ladies who insisted she should call them Aunt. They never lived in any one place for long, sometimes moving up to four times a year. She, nor her aunts, ever made friends in any of the places they lived. In order to escape the confines of the cottages they lived in, Veronica would escape to the meadows to catch butterflies and she became a renowned lepidopterist. When her last surviving aunt became ill, Veronica returned home from her latest expedition to nurse her aunt.

On her way back to the cottage from her aunt’s funeral, Veronica was going over her plans for her next expedition. As she arrived at the cottage, the door was ajar and she entered to sounds of someone in the kitchen – searching. She grabbed a weapon and headed in to apprehend the thief. They fought and the thief ran – but Veronica wasn’t going to let him get away and sprinted after him. When she caught him, they fought and he seized her and began dragging her toward a coach. To her good luck, an elderly German man came to her rescue and helped her fight off the villain. Her rescuer tells her she is in extreme danger and offers to take her to London to keep her safe. She doesn’t believe him, but – well – he is offering her a free trip to London and that is where she was headed anyway, so she’d just save the money.

They drove through the night to arrive in London the next morning. However, rather than taking Veronica to his home, her rescuer (Max) took her to his friend (Stoker) and extracted a promise from him to keep Veronica safe no matter what. Max wouldn’t explain his reasons because he said he needed to check with someone first and then he’d explain. With that, he took his leave of them.

Stoker is a man with many secrets, heartaches, and what would appear to be a sad and unhappy life. These things are all hinted at but we don’t learn a lot about him in this book. Since Veronica’s life is the focus of this book, I assume that we’ll learn more about Stoker in the upcoming books. I loved Stoker and will be interested to learn his tale in the future.

The following day, Veronica and Stoker read in the paper where Max was murdered during the night. Stoker immediately insists that they leave London and go someplace where she’ll be safe and they can formulate a plan.

Veronica and Stoker are off on a wild and exciting adventure with villains coming from several directions. Are any of them good guys or are they all bad guys? You’ll have to read the book to see. I can assure that you won’t solve the mystery until Veronica and Stoker do – and you won’t like the bad guys either – any of them.

As I said earlier, I love the mystery and I adore Stoker, but Veronica is just too over the top for me. I still recommend the book, just be prepared for Veronica – who I sincerely hope will mellow in future books and become less like a caricature than she seemed in this book.

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