Readers can be assured that many more adventures are in store for this duo. While they piece together clues and try to determine which pursuers are good guys and which are bad, Veronica and Stoker ultimately unravel the surprising secret of her parentage. A Curious Beginning is the first installment in Deanna Raybourns new mystery series featuring Veronica Speedwell.

But after only a few performances, they’re on the run again, this time back to London-where Veronica’s mysterious benefactor has been murdered. In order to remain with the troupe and earn their keep, they must become an act in the show. Veronica and Stoker flee London and find sanctuary with a traveling show. Stoker is an explorer, a taxidermist extraordinaire and rather rough around the edges, and their relationship at times sizzles and always provides entertainment with their bickering. A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell 1) by Deanna Raybourn A perfect read for fans of Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock is Veronica Speedwell. Stoker, a damaged man who’s hiding under this alias. Although unconvinced that someone is after her or something she possesses, Veronica agrees to her benefactor’s request to stay with Mr. Upon returning home from the funeral, a heretofore unknown benefactor offers her transportation to London, and she readily jumps at the opportunity, thus launching a series of events that all center on her mysterious origins. Determined to live an independent life, Veronica Speedwell is anything but a proper. Rather than feeling distraught about being alone in the world, Veronica relishes the idea. Readers meet the scientific butterfly-net carrying protagonist immediately after the funeral of her lifelong chaperone. Fans of Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia series will be delighted with this intrepid new heroine in what promises to be a vastly entertaining series. Veronica Speedwell, the Victorian sleuth in A Curious Beginning, is observant, outspoken and a bit risqué.

A curious beginning by deanna raybourn