2015, 337 pages. New Author? : Yes. Book 1 (out of 6) in the "Veronica Speedwell mysteries" series. Genres: Murder-Mystery; Historical Mystery; Victorian England. Overall Rating : 8*/10.
Veronica Speedwell has reached a conclusion: it's time to move on. She's just left the funeral for Aunt Nell, with whom she'd always had a tepid relationship, but who had served as her sole guardian these last three years, ever since Aunt Lucy, her other guardian, passed away.
Veronica's only in her 20's, but has already traveled throughout the world in search of all sorts of bugs, and specializing in butterflies. She is a leading lepidopterist, and has published papers on her finds, albeit under the ambiguous name of "V. Speedwell". This is after all 1887 London, and women are expected to have children, not careers.
So with the little bit of money she's tucked away, young Veronica is poised to venture out into the world on her own. No need for any companions, all she needs to do is make a quick stop at Aunt Nell's cottage for a few items of clothing and other traveling gear.
Alas, when she opens the door, she discovers the house has been ransacked. Drawers opened and emptied, pillows and mattresses slashed open. Someone has been looking for something. And that someone is still in the cottage, a huge broad-shouldered brute who has mayhem on his mind.
Okay, so maybe just for this moment, Veronica could use a companion.
What’s To Like...
A Curious Beginning is the opening novel in a six-book series (the Wikipedia information is outdated, only listing four books) by Deanna Raybourn featuring our fledgling and feminist sleuth Veronica Speedwell and her curmudgeonly cohort Mr. Stoker. I liked that Veronica's daytime job is a lepidopterist ("butterfly collector"), lately it seems like every adventure novel I read has a hero who's an archaeologist. Mr. Stoker is a taxidermist, and that's a refreshingly different career as well.
The story is told in the first-person POV (Veronica's), and is set entirely in the greater London area. The chapters are relatively short - 29 of them covering 337 pages. There's only a sprinkling of cussing: I counted only six instances in the first third of the book, and I don't recall any other R-rated stuff, so this almost qualifies as a cozy mystery.
The writing is both witty and polished. Both Stoker and Veronica are experts at repartee, and it was fun to listen to them verbally spar with each other. The Victorian setting felt authentic to me, and I was impressed by how "British-sounding" the text was since the author is American.
It is obvious that the book was well-researched. I learned what a "rebenque fight" was, got introduced to a Greek philosopher named Xenocrates, had to wiki an artist named Cabanel (who is cited twice in the story) and his painting "Fallen Angel", and enjoyed the mention of "penny dreadfuls". On a personal note, I loved that the pet dog was named "Huxley"; we once had a dog with that name.
The ending is good, being clever, suitably exciting, and with a nice twist in the epilogue portion of the last chapter. The primary plot threads - the "murder" and "mystery" angles - are resolved nicely, but other things, such as a the fate of the main baddie, are left open, perhaps to pop up again in subsequent tales.
Kewlest New Word ...
Belvedere (n.) : a small house or structure, sometimes with one side open, designed to give a beautiful view.
Others: Hob (n.); Snug (n.).
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.4/5 based on 1,119 ratings.
Goodreads: 3.95/5 based on 24,315 ratings and 3,739 reviews.
Excerpts...
"You are Lord Rosemorran?"
He blinked several times, as if trying to recall something. "Rosemorran? Oh yes. That's me. I say, have we met?"
"I am afraid not. My name is Veronica Speedwell, and I am trespassing."
"Trespassing? How very original. We do get the odd vagrant creeping about the place from time to time, but never a woman, at least not a clean woman with good vowels who could spot a lord at five paces. Any particular reason for trespassing here?" (pg. 224)
"I am not going to Ireland."
"Why not?"
"Have you been to Ireland? The climate is appalling. Nothing but mist."
"What is your objection to mist?"
I regarded him with the same disdain with which I had beheld my first Turkish toilet. "It is gloomy. Butterflies like the sun. Ireland is for the moth people."
"You are a lepidopterist," he said repressively. "You are not supposed to discriminate against moths." (pg. 249)
"Australia is full of unsuitable people - you will fit in beautifully." (pg. 4838)
It's hard to find things in A Curious Beginning to nitpick about. News of the murder doesn't arrive until the end of chapter six, and even then our two heroes don't really start to investigate it for another hundred pages or so. The list of possible suspects is pretty short, but keep in mind the tale is more about solving the whole mystery than just the murder portion.
The time spent in the traveling circus seemed tad bit tangential; I didn't feel like it moved the storyline forward, In fairness though, it served to recount how Stoker and Veronica endeavored to develop a working relationship with one another. I thought the riddle - "BOLOXST" - seemed pathetically easy to solve, but then was chagrined to find my "solution" was erroneous.
8 Stars. I found A Curious Beginning to be a great combination of historical fiction and murder-mystery, two of my favorite genres, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Book 4 of the series, A Dangerous Collaboration, is on my Kindle, and I'm looking forward to reading more about Veronica and Stoker's adventures.
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