An Unexpected Perilby Deanna Raybourn
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780593197264
Series: Veronica Speedwell Mystery #6
Publication Date: May 8, 2021
Pages: 340
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Berkley
Not every book in a series can be the best, not even in a series as fabulous as this one. There’s always one that just doesn’t quite meet expectations. This is that book in the Veronica Speedwell series, for me.
In previous books, Veronica has always been larger than life and proactive, doing what must be done, and damn the consequences. She’s strong, independent, confident in who she is, and makes no apologies.
She’s none of that in An Unexpected Peril. She’s still running full steam ahead, but this time it’s a reactive sort of running, going against the grain of her own personality by charging into an investigation that does not involve her as a means of running away from her own anxieties. A woman who willingly discussed anything in the previous 5 books, now avoids discussing anything of import. And given her character and Stoker’s, it’s a bit of a letdown in its predictability, something neither character had been thus far.
Still, putting that aside, the rest of the story is fun and kept my attention. Veronica gets to pretend she’s a princess, giving her the opportunity to see what she’s missed all these years, and the killer was a mystery until the end when it all came together beautifully. It would have been a far better story overall without the angst and repression, but I suppose it had to happen at some point.
I’m still eager for the next one and hope that in book 7 the true Veronica will return in all her bossy, outrageous glory.