A Curious Beginning
A Veronica Speedwell Mystery
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4.5, 107 Ratings
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
In her thrilling new series, the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, returns once more to Victorian England…and introduces intrepid adventuress Veronica Speedwell.
London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
But fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious past. 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. But before the baron can deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous truth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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. 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. 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. When the baron is murdered, Veronica and Stoker embark on a journey marked by present perils and past secrets. 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.
Customer Reviews
Loved it!
Veronica Speedwell is a young woman who has found herself recently orphaned. Escaping an attempt by an overzealous preacher’s wife to set her into an arranged marriage, Veronica finds herself on a whirl wind adventure and running for her life. Assisted by a stranger, that ends up being a German Baron, Veronica is placed in the care of his friend, Stoker, reclusive historian with a taxidermy predilection.
While Veronica is in Stoker’s care, the baron is murdered sending Stoker and Veronica on the run while trying to discover the secrets of Veronica’s past.
Veronica is smart and cunning with a specialty in butterflies.
I found A Curious Beginning a marvelously thrilling adventure. Veronica is everything a Victoria woman shouldn’t be but I loved her zest for life and pension for speaking her mind. She even avails herself with cohorts with likeminded female strengths or at the admiration for her strengths.
Loved it! Highly recommend this historical fiction to all those out there that love strong women, an exciting mystery and marvelous storytelling.
I received this copy of A Curious Beginning from Berkley Publishing Group-NAL in exchange for a honest review.
Memorial!
One of those books you remember for years and wait patiently for the next book to be written.
Deanna Raybourn's A Curious Beginning
Vivid description, intriguing, well plotted book with plenty of
mystery, drama spiked with suspense, romance, historical facts
plus humor and edge.
The characters have great dimension plus they are well
described. Each character being colorful in there own way
adding flavor to the story.
The story begins in the countryside after Veronica Speedwell
attends the funeral of her adopted aunt. Returning to their
cottage, Veronica finds it ransacked. While chasing the
perpetrator, Veronica meets a German Baron who offers to take
her to London in his carriage. During the ride Veronica learns
that the baron has knowledge of her parents and she is in danger.
When they get to London, the baron turns her over to a man
named Stoker for her protection.
Get ready for an utterly unpredictable journey that Veronica and
Stoker are about to embark on following the murder of the baron.
What a team a taxidermist and a lepidopterist will make!!!!
This story takes place in 1887 London. The author writing is
captivating making you feel as if you taking part of trying to
find the baron’s murderer and the secret about Veronica’s
parentage.
Thank you to First To Read for this eBook. My opinion is my own.
