veronica speedwell mystery a curious beginning deanna raybourn

Lucky for me, Berkley offered the opportunity to review all three books that currently make up the Veronica Speedwell series and am I glad they did. It is a rare day that I pick up historical fiction of any kind I have nothing against the genre, but I feel as though all the flashy, contemporary books shove my good intentions out of the way and I never get around to reading those golden oldies I claim I'll dive into. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth. But before the baron can deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Promising to reveal in time what he knows of the plot against her, the baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive natural historian as intriguing as he is bad-tempered. As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.īut fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron who has ties to her mysterious past. After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry-and the occasional romantic dalliance. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. The intrepid Veronica's witty narration ('I abhorred weakness of any kind but most particularly in my tea') and the sexual tension she shares with the equally eccentric and articulate Stoker deliver a fun read with promises of more to come.London, 1887.

When the baron is murdered, Veronica and Stoker embark on a journey marked by present perils and past secrets. At the urging of the baron, who warns her that she's in mortal danger for reasons he can't yet reveal, she hides at the London home of reclusive natural historian Revelstoke 'Stoker' Templeton-Vane. After returning home from the funeral of the last of her guardians, Veronica foils an abduction attempt with the assistance of an elderly stranger, Baron Maximilian von Stauffenbach, who remembers the mother Veronica knows nothing about. Set in 1887, this sparkling first in a new Victorian series from bestseller Raybourn (The Dark Inquiry and four other Lady Julia Grey mysteries) introduces 25-year-old Veronica Speedwell, who as an illegitimate child lived an itinerant existence with two female guardians.

Veronica speedwell mystery a curious beginning deanna raybourn