A Treacherous Curse

Mystery series abound with everyone from caterers, beekeepers and librarians playing amateur sleuths. Plots and characters can be so similar that it can be hard to distinguish them once you have finished reading. So, it is a pleasant surprise to find a mystery series with intriguingly fresh characters in historically accurate settings forming the basis for the suspense. Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell's mysteries provide just such combination. Speedwell and her colleague Stoker are naturalists living in Victorian England, moving between royalty, nobility and common folk as they work at creating a natural history museum for their benefactor while investigating mysteries in their spare time. As we follow their investigations, Raybourn provides fascinating details about Speedwell's work as a lepidopterist and Stoker's as a taxidermist.

The third book in the series--[A Treacherous Curse]--focuses on Egyptian archaeology as Speedwell and Stoker try to find a missing exhibition photographer and expose a potential hoax formed around a mummy's curse. I started the series with this book and was reminded of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody as Speedwell shares much with that intrepid lady. Both are independent, pushing back against the constraints placed on women during the Victorian era including in their clothing, creating costumes that make their jobs easier. Both women serve as narrators, sharing their insights into their families, friends and the world around them. The younger Speedwell is a bit more openly sexual and her bawdiness is fun and refreshing.

Raybourn's writing is a pleasure. She captures the tone of the Victorians perfectly. Both Speedwell and Stoker are deeply drawn characters with pasts that are slowly revealed over the course of the series. They are both intelligent and thoughtful with strong opinions that often lead to furious arguments. Ultimately, however, they respect each other's intellect and personal privacy, content to learn about each other in their own due time.

If you're a mystery fan looking for something new and fresh, Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell mysteries are waiting for you! The third book will be available in early January 2018 but I was able to read a pre-publication galley provided by the publisher. I enjoyed it enough to go back and read the other two.

I have to admit, I'm a fan of just about everything Deanna Raybourn has written. Her characters are bright, strong women who remain true to themselves and to those they respect. This book, a third in the Veronica Speedwell Series, has our female heroine every bit a constant as intelligent and witty and courageous to the end. I had found the first two in the series captivating, and was eagerly awaiting this one. It's a book I deliberately read slowly as I knew it would probably be awhile before the author continues the character's stories. I can't recommend it enough.