As soon as Goodreads alerts me that a new Veronica Speedwell mystery is coming out, I immediately put in a request at the library. Thankfully, most of the folks that utilize my library either are ill informed about the publishing date of these books or don’t yet know about them. I can generally get my hands on a brand new copy immediately. This is both a good thing AND a bad thing. I get to read it sooner, but I tear through the book too quickly. It’s like the let down Christmas morning when all the weeks of preparation and anticipation are over in minutes. All that is left is stuffing wrapping paper into the recycling bin.
If you have read these mysteries, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, read no further and start with the first one, A Curious Beginning. You will be glad that you did. For now, I have finished yet another wonderful romp of a book and now have to wait for either a Lady Sherlock, Emmeline Truelove or Custard Protocol book to come out.
The fourth book in the series finds our intrigue loving lepidopterist, Veronica, returning from a trip to Madeira. Using a butterfly hunting expedition abroad to flee her feelings for her partner in crime, Stoker, Veronica found that she could not escape them. However, a new distraction presents itself in the form of Stoker’s brother Lord Templeton-Vane.
When the elder Templeton-Vane lures Veronica to a small island off the coast of Cornwall with promises of seeing the rare glasswing butterflies that inhabit it, she gets more than she bargains for. The Romilly family that lives in the castle over looking the village is steeped in secrets: a bride that went missing on her wedding day, a strange little garden full of poisonous plants, as well as dark tunnels and priest holes scattered around the castle that provide many places to hide.
The emotional strains within the Romilly family, between the Templeton-Vane brothers and the smoldering tension between Veronica and Stoker up the ante. The superstitions of the island’s villagers fan the flames of the mysterious disappearance of Lord Romilly’s bride as the cast of characters, caught up in their own tumultuous relationships, struggle to solve the mystery. It’s witty, entertaining, and a terrific romp, as usual. I can’t wait for the next one!