A Perilous Undertaking: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery (Veronica Speedwell Mystery, #2)

by Deanna Raybourn

London, 1887. Victorian adventuress and butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell receives an invitation to visit the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women. There she meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task-saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Accused of the brutal murder of his artist mistress Artemisia, Ramsforth will face the hangman's noose if Veronica cannot find the real killer.But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems, and unmasking her true identity is only the first of the many secrets Veronica must uncover. Together with her natural historian colleague Stoker, Veronica races against time to find the true murderer...

• ISBN13: 9781785650505
• Publish Date: 10 January 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Titan Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!*~

WARNING: Possible spoilers for Book 1 of this series, A Curious Beginning, which I highly recommend!

A Perilous Undertaking picks up just weeks after A Curious Beginning left off. I was very happy to see that, as I always feel like I’m lost in the sauce when series books have big time gaps between them!

Feels

Ahhh, I still loved Veronica and Stoker. Stoker’s background came more into focus during this one, as we got to peak a little more into his family. Once again, I would caution anyone who comes to this series looking for a strictly historically accurate book – while the period details of dress, surroundings, etc., are quite good, the language is fairly modern. Veronica has EXTREMELY modern ideas about relationships and sexual encounters, and several of the other characters in this book do as well. Not uncommon perhaps for artists and others of the more “common” classes, perhaps, but for a woman born and raised as she was it would seem unlikely. However, it makes for great reading and a character I can TOTALLY identify with! I laughed out loud quite frequently at the back and forth between her and Stoker – she’s so forthright, and he doesn’t quite know how to handle it!

Characters

Veronica and Stoker are their usual bantering, bickering selves. They’re still getting to know each other and as they speak more openly about their past life they are (whether they will admit it or not) getting more and more invested in each other. It’s very slow going though!

At one point they seem to make progress, and then a THING happens between them that puts the brakes on everything. Damn, damn, DAMN! I need to know more, people! I absolutely despised Lady Sundridge. DESPISED. She was so cold and manipulative and unfeeling. UGH! She used Veronica from start to finish - and Veronica LET her, even after she knew she was being used. My heart. Veronica wants to know her family, and thus know herself so badly she puts aside her better judgment and it really bites her in the ass sometimes.

Plot

Much more intriguing than the first! I really didn't have it figured out by the end, at least not to where I was certain enough to bet on it. ;) I loved meeting all the different characters in the artists' enclave, too - though the who's-sleeping-with-who there really made things SO much more complicated than they should have been, I guess that was really part of the problem! Oh, just a fair warning - there is a LOT of talk about sex in this one. Not sex itself, but a good deal of nudity and frank discussions of sex. ;)

4/5 stars. I didn't FEEL quite as much for this one, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and dived right into the third book!

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[bookperson]

Second one didn't disappoint! Loved it as much as first one, if not even more!

[wyvernfriend]

Maddening and compelling read I find Veronica quite maddening sometimes but her faultless logic is entertaining and the hoops she makes Stoker jump through are fun. The two of them spark well and this was an involved and messy murder mystery that involved the crown, again.
 
It will be interesting to see where the author goes from here.

[cherryblossommj]

Review product. Keeper shelf and digital copy purchased as well.

Years ago from one of my favorite authors Michelle Moran, I was introduce to Lady Julia Grey and the writing of Deanna Raybourn. I haven't missed a single novel of hers since. While not my normal Christian Historical Fiction genre, these are authors I will venture out into the general market for again and again. This is, however, one of the more risque and not necessarily the one I would recommend to my normal reading buddies. Mature audiences only, I'd say.

Veronica Speedwell is such an incredible creature and I love her introduction in 5h e first novel and enjoy her continued adventure in this second novel. And I can tell you as this review is late (had a baby last year and lost track of all tasks and to do lists!) indeed her journey in her third story is even better.

This one is artistic and in the realm of the artistry folk of the era. The continuing characters are finding a fond place in my novel memory banks and I look forward to more. Deanna is doing an entertaining job of providing enough details to keep me entertained and invested in the story without giving away so much as to having the mystery figured out immediately.

As always with reading one of Deanna Raybourn's novels I want more and I continue to grow my digital and physical shelves with her stories. I cannot wait to get the fourth novel.

This review will be posted through the avenue of www.CreativeMadnessMama.com and @CherryBlossomMJ places online. Review copy provided but worthy of the purchased digital copy also.

[Amanda]

A wonderful follow-up to the first Veronica Speedwell book, A Perilous Undertaking provides a fun romp through Victorian London chasing after a murderer. While the romance reader in me naturally wants more between Veronica and Stoker, their partnership is stronger than ever. I can't wait to see what trouble they get into next.

[kimbacaffeinate]

The setting is 1887 London, and Stoker and Veronica's travel plans are thwarted when their benefactor trips over a tortoise. Oh yes, things are quite interesting when you spend time with this duo. When Victoria's invited to the Curiosity Club, she meets the mysterious Lady Sunbridge. The lady implores Veronica to save Miles Ramsforth from hanging. Miles is accused of brutally murdering his mistress. Veronica knows that Sunbridge is withholding information, but nevertheless agrees.

The mystery served is a classic whodunit, and Rayburn took us into the unspoken worlds within the art world and the ton. Stoker and Veronica are hilarious together from their back and forth bickering to Veronica's way of shocking Stoker with her open-mindedness, curiosity, and forward thinking. Not only do we spend time within the Bohemian artist colony we also visit an eighteenth-century sex club and opium den. I thought the mystery was well done with red herrings, believable suspects, and a few surprises.

For me, the best part of this series is the dynamic friendship and developing romance between Stoker and Veronica. Their personalities are different despite the fact that both love adventure. Despite his gruffness and pirate appearance, Stoker is still very much a product of his upbringing. For those who have read book one, we finally discover why he loathes his family. Veronica is a breath of fresh air, from her modified attire to her outspokenness. When they visited Stoker's brother, I had tears from laughing as Stoker squirmed and Veronica shocked. Delightful!

Aside from the chemistry dancing around Stoker and Veronica that is driving me crazy, I loved everything about this novel and the series.

Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[MurderByDeath]

I've been looking forward to this second book for months and while it wasn't quite as good as the first book, it definitely wasn't disappointing.   In the first book, startling revelations about Veronica were a big part of the plot, and Stoker's past was shared in teasing bits here and there.  I suppose, given those revelations, the author couldn't resist using them to prop up the plot in this book, but I'll admit I found the device (especially the you must investigate this!) trite.  At a guess, the family angst bit was perhaps meant to show Veronica's vulnerability and humanity - we all just want to be accepted and loved, dammit!  But it just didn't work for me.  I found the scene with the butterfly in the garden to be far more effective and moving, without being a cliché.  I did enjoy learning more about Stoker's family though.   A BookLikes friend of mine wrote, in her review, that the themes throughout this book seemed chosen as much for their shock value as for their ability to showcase Veronica's conscious independence.  She's not wrong.  I'm not sure if the author wanted to shock, or just combat the general assumption that Victorian England was the apex of prudishness, purity and virginal thinking, but either way, this book is not for anyone who prefers a chaste story.  There's no overt sex, but boy howdy, is it talked about.  A lot.    The murder reveal didn't surprise me; the more the author asserts a character's innocence, the more I suspect them, but I hardly cared.  The banter between Stoker and Veronica–actually the banter between anyone and Veronica–were what I enjoyed the most about this book.  If you want a strong, intelligent, pragmatic, rational female heroine you cannot do much better than Miss Speedwell.  Raybourn knows how to write.   My favourite highlights: Patricia the Galapagos tortoise, and that final scene between Stoker and Veronica.  That final scene might, in fact, make my top 5 favourites of all time.