A Curious Beginning: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery. Deanna Raybourn. Penguin Group (USA). July
2016. 368 pp. ISBN#: 9780451476029.
It’s
the late 19th century and Veronica Speedwell has just buried her
aunt. Veronica is not your ordinary
woman of the 1800s; she’s an accomplished lepidopterist, a collector of
butterflies. After her aunt’s burial,
she returns to her aunt’s home only to find it has been totally ransacked.
Before she can register and ponder her questions about this violation, she is
rescued by Baron Maximillian von Stauffenbach who claims he knew her parents
and that she is in mortal danger. He
accompanies her to stay at the house of his friend, Stoker. Stoker seems a grouchy, poor and frustrated
scientist but his demeanor is challenged by Veronica who is as sharp as a tack,
amusingly so to any reader with an appreciation for challenging wittiness.
After
settling in and slowly attempting to help Stoker in his job, Veronica and
Stoker are shocked to find that the Baron has been murdered. At first Stoker thinks Veronica is
responsible and many accusations and responses make Stoker alarmed enough to
realize they must disappear. This then
is the heart of the story – first dealing with the characters they meet in a
traveling circus of freaks (term that was then used for people with unique
height, weight, appearance, etc.). The
second aspect is the discovery of who were Veronica’s true parents, a fact of
which she is totally ignorant since she spent her childhood with two aunts who
were constantly moving. The reader will
have no idea until the very end of this novel how this mystery may be solved –
or not.
While
Stoker and Veronica initially clash like oil and water, they do come to respect
and even love each other. Veronica discovers Stoker has his own secrets which
gradually come to light and render him less aggressive and brash. Veronica is bright, sharp-tongued almost to
the point of biting, and compassionate individual who knows how to take care of
herself and always manages to stay several steps ahead of the proud,
domineering Stoker. The characters they
meet are as conniving as their jobs demand in a competitive society where being
on top is the only guarantee of success and the reality that one must use
whatever means possible to get to that pinnacle.
A Curious Beginning… is a delightful, old-fashioned mystery
and romance sure to please readers everywhere.
An intriguing, multi-layered mystery that is recommended as a
fascinating stand-alone novel even though it is connected to other novels by
Deanna Raybourn!
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