A Grave Robbery

October 1, 2023

The lover of ever-sleuthing lepidopterist Veronica Speedwell, Revelstoke "Stoker" Templeton-Vane is in for a shock when asked to equip a beautiful wax figure with a clockwork mechanism that will make it even more lifelike; the figure is actually a carefully preserved young woman. Soon, Veronica and Stoker are seeking out the killer, hoping to prevent another murder. Next in the Victorian-set series by the Edgar Award-winning Raybourn. Prepub Alert.

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Starred review from December 1, 2023

The Earl of Rosemorran, patron and employer for Veronica Speedwell and Stoker, brings Stoker a new project. The earl has purchased a crystal casket containing a life-size waxwork sleeping beauty, and he wants Stoker to install a clockwork mechanism to make the figure appear to breathe. When Stoker makes the first cut, he discovers that the sleeping beauty is an actual human body disguised as an anatomical waxwork. He wants to identify her and provide a proper burial, while Veronica wants to find out if the woman died by suicide or was murdered. Their misadventures take them from a Victorian circus to a mortuary and underground railroad. In order to catch a villain, the couple recruit allies, including a woman reporter, a Scotland Yard detective, a hermit, and an undertaker. The entire team is needed to launch Veronica's audacious scheme to substitute herself for the waxen beauty. But Veronica makes a costly mistake when she underestimates her opponent. VERDICT The ninth Veronica Speedwell book, following A Sinister Revenge, spins off Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's possibly the best in the series, with Raybourn's trademark banter, innuendo, and outstanding lead characters, along with a fascinating plot and supporting cast.--Lesa Holstine

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February 1, 2024
Veronica Speedwell and her beau, Stoker, are cataloging their employer's artifacts when Lord Rosemorran himself arrives with his latest acquisition, a wax figure. At the earl's request, Stoker plans to insert a mechanism that will make the figure's chest rise and fall like that of Madame Tussaud's "breathing" Sleeping Beauty. After a single incision, however, Stoker discovers that the figure is not made of wax but is, in fact, a corpse. Naturally, he and Veronica take it upon themselves to uncover the young woman's identity and the circumstances of her eventual demise (and bizarre preservation). As with the previous Speedwell mysteries, this is a humorous, lively romp through the mansions and alleys of Victorian London, led by the dynamic couple and narrated with Veronica's signature wit. As Veronica and Stoker interrogate suspects and set traps, readers will be fascinated to learn more about Anatomical Venuses (wax figures once used to teach anatomy) and Frankenstein-esque embalming and electrophysiology theories. Another gem in what's always been an excellent and particularly un-put-downable mystery series.

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February 1, 2024
Two intrepid sleuths encounter murders, wild adventures, and other Victorian oddities. Veronica Speedwell and Stoker Templeton-Vane live on the estate of the Earl of Rosemorran, whose vast collection of objects they catalogue and repair. Rosemorran has recently purchased a life-size wax figure in a glass casket, resembling Sleeping Beauty, as a birthday gift for his daughter, and he asks Stoker to add a mechanism that will make the figure appear to be breathing. When Stoker cuts into it, though, he's horrified to realize that it was once an actual woman, somehow made to look like the kind of waxwork that appears at Madame Tussaud's. The sleuths want to know where the body came from, who the lady was, and how she died. A close study suggests she was a housemaid who was pregnant and drowned, either by accident, suicide, or murder. Veronica and Stoker question Lord Rosemorran, who sets them on the trail of a most peculiar and dangerous case. Their first stop for information is the circus, where they learn that someone named Lord Ambrose Despard had purchased a waxwork they remember from their former adventures. A visit to Despard reveals an eccentric collector who has something to hide. With some help from a journalist friend and an ambitious Scotland Yard detective, the sleuths follow a trail that will eventually reveal all, though not in time to prevent more deaths. A puzzling mystery bolstered by an exploration of bizarre Victorian mores.

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April 8, 2024
In bestseller Raybourn’s whirlwind ninth historical adventure for Veronica Speedwell (after An Impossible Impostor), the lepidopterist teams up with taxidermist Stoker Templeton-Vane to identify a cadaver trapped in a wax figure. At the novel’s outset, the Earl of Rosemorran commissions Veronica and Stoker to install a waxwork figure of a “maiden captured in enchanted slumber” with a mechanical engine for the entertainment of his spoiled 11-year-old daughter. When the pair makes the first cut, they discover the figure is, in fact, an actual corpse entombed in wax. Shocked, they set out to identify the deceased, launching an investigation that takes them to various macabre corners of Victorian London, including a freak show featuring a spider woman, an underground railway through a chilling necropolis, and a group of researchers using “applied galvanics” to resurrect the dead. Vibrant secondary characters, a sea of plausible suspects, and a steadily growing body count make this a treat for series devotees and newcomers alike. Agent: Pam Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Assoc.