historical fiction, mystery
After Veronica’s guardian “aunts” die in 1887, she is ready
to embark on adventures around the world in search of butterflies and natural
history. However, a distinguished-looking gentleman appears and explains that he knows the identity of her mystery mother and that Veronica’s welfare is at risk. He offers to take her to safety
in London. Deciding this is a great way
to get free transportation, Veronica agrees to join the charming man and his
promises of information. In London, he leaves her in the hands of a grizzled
natural historian, Stoker, who is performing taxidermy work to make money. However, it
isn’t long before Veronica and Stoker are running for their lives.
Veronica is a precocious, intelligent, high-spirited young
woman and I couldn’t help but admire her gusto. Deanna Raybourn’s storytelling in A Curious Beginning was wonderful and the linguistics of her
characters felt perfect for their place and time. The witty banter between
Veronica and Stoker had me giggling many times. I enjoyed spending time with
them so much!
This adventurous mystery was perfectly paced and continuously
moving forward (even though the big mystery wasn’t hard to guess). I will
definitely be reading more in this series and look forward to seeing where
Veronica ends up next.
While the audiobook narrator, Angele Masters, had a nice
range of voices and accents, her voice for Veronica was extremely annoying—very
nasal, bratty, high-pitched and using the same lyrical meter in all of her sentences
(building quickly to a climax and then working its way down). I laughed out
loud when the words “I said gently” were narrated right after a sentence which
was, most assuredly, not delivered gently. Masters never read
Veronica’s words in any manner other than bossy, loud, and obnoxious. So
despite her quality voice acting for most of the other characters, having to
endure Masters’ voice for Veronica throughout the entire 11-hour audiobook brings
my grade for her narration down to a B.
historical fiction, mystery
Veronica is asked to try to prove the innocence of a man
accused of murdering his pregnant lover. The person asking her to do this
investigation is none other than her secret royal aunt. Stoker helps her in
this amateur detective adventure.
Veronica and Stoker find themselves rubbing elbows with the
art community and its wealthy benefactors. The quirky cast of characters was
fun. A Perilous Undertaking was infused with more humor than the first novel and
had me giggling out loud sometimes. And the sexual tension between Veronica and
Stoker is fun but frustrating—it’s like a Victorian version of Moonlighting.
I am not a lover of mysteries but I’ve enjoyed these novels
because the people are more compelling than the actual mystery solutions. I see there are several more sequels in this
series and I wonder if I’ll grow tired of the mysteries or if the author can
keep me diverted. I’m willing to try the next one and see.
Thankfully, the narrator, Angele Masters, toned down the piercing nature of Veronica’s voice in this novel and I had no trouble listening to this audiobook. Bravo! A- for this one.
historical fiction, mystery
FINALLY!!!! I was beginning to think Stoker and Veronica would never admit to each other how they felt towards one another. Hooray! Progress at last! I'm sure Deanna Raybourn will keep stringing the readers along and not allowing the relationship to move too quickly in future novels. But I'm satisfied for being given the morsels in this book.
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