This was everything I could have wanted from the next Veronica Speedwell installment. I continue to love Veronica as the narrator - she is pithy, headstrong, and also brutally honest. She subverts so many expectations of a Victorian lady while also maintaining certain elements of her femininity that make her such a compelling character. I also still love the dynamic between Veronica and Stoker, and this book kicks everything up a notch. This is a must-read for fans of historical mystery!

At the close of the last book, things were left in an interesting place for Veronica and Stoker. I was eager to proceed and see what came of them next as they faced another exciting murder adventure together while exchanging acrimonious quips. A Dangerous Collaboration took them away from London to the atmospheric Cornish coast where they must solve a cold case mystery and perhaps discover something more.
Review

A Dangerous Collaboration is the fourth Veronica Speedwell mystery, but it doesn’t make a good standalone or place to jump into the series. There has been a long, sizzling slow burn relationship building through the books along with other series developments making sense only when got in order.

A Dangerous Collaboration jumps in a little over six months after the finish of A Treacherous Curse. It is six months because Veronica pulled a panic when emotions happened and ran off with her ladyship to go hunt butterflies on Madeira. Naturally, she would die before admitting as much and she is in desperate straights when she returns knowing that she hasn’t purged Stoker from her system or found her mojo to go back to her butterfly hunts like what was supposed to result from the trip. Life is decidedly flat particularly when her absence doesn’t spark even one letter from the person she desires to forget. In fact, she knows she has no right to feel hurt when it was her choice and when she comes back and he treats her the same as he did before, but seeing right through her like he always had.
Fortunately, Stoker’s brother saves her with the dangling of a new mystery in the form of an old disappearance case involving his friend and the possibility of a new butterfly for her collection out on the Cornish coast so long as she poses as his fiance. Stoker wasn’t invited, but he tags along as well for the houseparty in an atmospheric castle on the remote Cornish island with the Romilly family. Malcolm Romilly is determined to discover once and for all what happened to his disappearing bride the day they married.

I always anticipate each new release of this series for this pairing who drive me nuts and pull me in, all the same. But, I let myself believe things were a certain way between this pair at the end of the last book and this book snatched that away in the first pages and I had to reset and change my expectations. As a result, I will probably be going the unpopular opinion route for a good portion of this review. No worries, if you had a different experience when reading it.

Veronica and Stoker have been in denial since day one. I remember saying in my review of the first book that she is terrified of commitments, relationships, and, most of all abandonment and rightly so, but hides it behind her independent, highly intellectual, equal in all ways including sexually, outrageous persona. I call it a persona because it is something she has deliberately cultivated like her own version of armor. Until Veronica met Stoker, this was adequate, but over the course of these books she has slowly, bit by bit had it proven to her that all that is a brittle and hollow thing, but she is too scared to try for more and then when she slips in the last book and cops to feelings, she runs in fear.

I bothered to say all that because I really thought Veronica had made it through the last hurdle by the end of the last book and this would be the start of them trying to build something deeper. She’s a fierce, brilliant woman who will never be like the typical women of her day- Stoker never once expects her to nor does he ever disparage her mind or anything else. He likes her as is and treats her as a partner and equal. She knows all this on one level and revels in it, but then that sticky fear from the past takes over and she is right back where she started pretending she is an island and doesn’t want love or marriage or wanting a man for more than a night.

In this one, I skimmed and drifted through a book I felt dragged after the opening pages until around the fifty percent point when the suspense plot really kicked in and big things were happening. It’s not that I minded the long set up of the situation or what was happening among the larger cast of characters, but with the focus, stronger than ever, on Veronica and Stoker while they churned up the same patch of earth with each other…sigh. I couldn’t even get into the atmospheric setting and gothic overtones (that were great by the way) without being distracted.

Let’s just say, I’d had enough. At this point, she’s a tease and an emotional coward. Harsh, yes, but with Veronica, it’s always Stoker being juvenile with his brother or Stoker being ridiculous and sentimental because God forbid a person have feelings for you or feelings about his brother cutting in and Veronica letting him. She knows what his wife did to him in the past and that his family was torn since he was a child and he’s just now tentatively starting things with his brother. But hey, let’s rile the guy up emotionally and pull back and then play coy while involving the brother. On purpose or not, she did it. I was honestly to the point where I wanted Stoker to back away and leave her with his brother. Yep, I was just that exasperated, but then I held in there for that precious solid gold moment when Stoker shines with a heroic inferno that burned away all the petty shirking she was doing. That scene was almost worth putting up with everything before it.

The mystery was a gothic style and that was the bright and shining bit. Even while the romance end was driving me batty, seeing them in action as a detecting pair, sparring and being witty while getting to the bottom of matters, I was as dazzled and thrilled as always. This is where this pair has always shone for me. I actually had my finger on the right answer, but then thought that I was wrong when the second disappearance happened. Loved the setting of foggy, isolated Cornish island shrouded in legend and lore with a castle full of hidden passages, a possible ghost, a definite disappearance and a house full of suspects.

Now, I did yammer on for some time about something that got my dander up and it probably seems I didn’t like this book. But in truth, aside from my wild hare about that relationship, everything else was stellar. And, I would even go so far as to say that many people will have more patience and generosity than I did and not mind so much what got to me. This was a solid historical romantic suspense in a shining, witty series that I can recommend to those who enjoy the genre and strong willed characters.

I rec’d this book via Net Galley from Berkley to read in exchange of an honest review.

Veronica Speedwell and Revelstoke Templeton-Vane have come to an impasse in their relationship--each realizing their feelings for the other, and each believing the other is still too grieving and damaged by past events to act on such feelings. Hence Veronica heads for Madeira with Lady Cordelia for several months while Stoker continues cataloging and restoring the taxidermied creatures of Lord Rosemorran's proposed museum. When she returns, she finds she's still not ready to return to her previous, comfortable relationship with Stoker, and she leaps at the chance to go off with Stoker's elder brother, Tiberius, a.k.a. Viscount Templeton-Vane, to visit an old friend of his and acquire larvae of the rare Romilly glasswing butterfly.

While the butterflies and the offer of larvae is real, it's really just bait to get Veronica to accompany him, and to lure Stoker to follow them, thinking he's defying rather than accommodating his older brother.

The real reason is that their host, Malcolm Romilly, wants to investigate the disappearance, and possible death, of his his bride, Rosamund, on their wedding day three years earlier.

Malcolm wants Tiberius there. Tiberius wants Veronica and Stoker there. They are, after all, the ones who keep getting involved in quite dangerous investigations. Also present are Malcolm's sister Mertensia; Helen Romilly, widow of Malcolm and Mertensia's brother Lucian; Helen and Lucian's son Caspian; Mrs. Trengrouse the housekeeper, who started out ans the nursery maid when Malcolm and his siblings were infants; and assorted other servants.

Nobody, of course, is telling the whole truth. Tiberius was in love with Rosamund, and wasn't present for the wedding because he decided he couldn't stand it and went to Russia with his hated father, who has since died. Malcolm thinks it's very likely Rosamund ran away to be with Tiberius, or perhaps tried to and drowned, trying to get off the island. Helen and Caspian had reason to fear a marriage to Rosamund would produce an heir that would cut out Caspian as heir. Both Mertensia and Mrs. Trengrouse had quarreled with Rosamund the day before the wedding, because she had plans for the castle that would have eliminated their roles there.

Really, everyone had a potential motive for killing Rosamund and hiding her body. Of those present, only Veronica and the Templeton-Vane brothers couldn't have done it.

That means, of course, the murderer is among them. Unless it was an accident, but then where's the body? Or perhaps it was the mermaids or the piskies...at least some of the islanders believe that's a possibility.

It's a complicated mystery with not a lot to go on. Along the way, we learn interesting revelations about Stoker and Tiberius, especially Tiberius, and there are hints dropped from Lady Wellie that the next case Veronica and Stoker will tackle may be the case of Jack the Ripper.

Good characters, good story. Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

Title: A Dangerous Collaboration
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Series: Veronica Speedwell, #4
Pages: 336
Publisher: Berkley
Date: March 12, 2019

Summary:

Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell is whisked off to a remote island off the tip of Cornwall when her natural historian colleague Stoker's brother calls in a favor. On the pretext of wanting a companion to accompany him to Lord Malcolm Romilly's house party, Tiberius persuades Veronica to pose as his fiancée--much to Stoker's chagrin. But upon arriving, it becomes clear that the party is not as innocent as it had seemed. Every invited guest has a connection to Romilly's wife, Rosamund, who disappeared on her wedding day three years ago, and a dramatic dinner proves she is very much on her husband's mind.

As spectral figures, ghostly music, and mysterious threats begin to plague the partygoers, Veronica enlists Stoker's help to discover the host's true motivations. And as they investigate, it becomes clear that there are numerous mysteries surrounding the Romilly estate, and every person present has a motive to kill Rosamund...


Review:

The first time I read this book I didn’t particularly like it. There was too much stress between Veronica and Stoker. It wasn’t the normal disagreements and shouting matches, it was indifference. Even though I thought Stoker’s attitude was false, I wasn’t sure. And Veronica is never comfortable showing her softer feelings.

With the second reading, however, I was better able to see that even though it looked like they were drifting apart, they were really struggling to make a connection. I could breathe a sigh of relief.

Stoker’s eldest brother Tiberius is integral to the plot. Not only does he drag Veronica and Stoker into solving a murder, there are subplots as well. They grew up together as brothers, but Tiberius had always tormented Stoker. And Stoker being Stoker certainly returned the favor. Their relationship was explored and hopefully improved in this book. In addition, Tiberius strikes me as a man-whore and he definitely makes a play for Veronica. I am not sure how much is because he desires her or because he is getting back at Stoker. Either way, he doesn’t come across as very likable.

The murder case itself is three years old. The way they talk about it, it seems more like decades old. Anyway, I can’t really say Stoker and Veronica solve the case. It is more the murderer gives themselves away because they are afraid of being discovered. It all takes place on a island off England which is inhabited by mermaids, piskies, and those with the sight. There is a garden of poisons where even breathing the air is dangerous. All in all, not a comfortable place to live . . . or die.

My immediate reaction after finishing the book the first time was when is the next one due out? After the second reading, my reaction is “I want it now!” It’s definitely worth four stars and if I hadn’t spent most of the book worrying about Stoker’s and Veronica’s relationship, I would probably have given it five stars.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A Dangerous Collaboration is the fourth installment in author Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell series. If you are unfamiliar with this series, it is a historical mystery series set in Victorian England, featuring intrepid adventuress and sleuth Veronica Speedwell who loves Arcadia Brown's adventures. Having once again won the day in the previous installment called A Treacherous Curse, 26-year old Lepidopterist Veronica Speedwell decides to take a break.

A break that lasts 6 months and puts a strain on her relationship with Revelstoke (Stoker) Templeton-Vane her partner in the past 3 books. Upon return, Veronica finds her self drawn to yet another mystery when Lord Tiberius Templeton-Vane asks her to accompany him to Lord Malcolm Romilly’s house party off the coast of Cornwall. Tiberius persuades Veronica to pose as his fiancée—much to Stoker’s chagrin. Upon arriving, it becomes clear that the party is not as innocent as it had seemed.

Every invited guest, except Veronica and Stoker, had a connection to Romilly’s wife, Rosamund, who disappeared on her wedding day three years ago. The mystery in this one is especially interesting because it takes place on a small island, somewhat akin to a locked-room mystery, as it would be nearly impossible for the missing person to have left the island - alive or dead - without someone having helped and others having noticed. Yet it's been three years and she disappeared without a trace. What happened to her? Why? Who knows the truth?

Even though Stoker and Veronica were often at odds due to what was presumed to have happened when she was gone, there are no better partners. Yes, there's Sherlock and Holmes, but Stoker and Veronica bring an entirely different skill set to helping solve curious mysteries that seem utterly unsolvable. Plus, I wouldn't want these two to be with anyone else. Not even Tiberius. Over the course of four books now, readers have watched the couple dance around each other in what has sometimes been a most frustrating push-forward-pull-back dance you will ever witness. The sexual tension is so thick that you need a very sharp knife to cut through it. It's fair to say that I am excited about the possibilities for the 5th installment in this series having picked up on several Easter Eggs that appear in this book.

I love this series! It has a strong female character who does what she wants, no matter what others think. Plus her strong personality isn't annoying like can happen in other books with a strong female who ends up seeming pushy and bitchy instead. I enjoyed the interaction between the main character and the people living on the island, showing how protective small villages could be of their ruling families. The ending had a great twist that I honestly didn't see coming. I really thought the killer was someone else.

A Dangerous Collaboration between Veronica and Stoker’s brother, the Viscount, result in a much more gothic entry in the series.

Veronica Speedwell is not your typical Victorian woman. She doesn’t believe in marriage but does believe in male companionship. She has a career as a lepidopterist, or butterfly researcher. She has a flirtatious relationship with her work partner, Stoker.

In Victorian London, Veronica Speedwell is leaving her partner, Stoker, behind to search for exotic butterflies on Madeira, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. Lady Cordelia agreed to travel with Veronica as a vacation of sorts.

When they return, Stoker’s brother has a task for Veronica to complete. The Viscount Tiberius asks Veronica to go with him and retrieve a rare butterfly’s larvae on St. Maddern’s Isle. On the way to the island, the Viscount states that their host on the island, Malcolm, is religious and they must pose as an engaged couple.

Once they arrive, Malcolm’s true motive becomes apparent. He wants them to solve the mystery of his bride’s disappearance three years earlier. To do so, they call on Stoker for help.

I adore this series. In, I missed the usual banter between Veronica and Stoker. I wasn’t feeling the Viscount’s flirtation. What happened to the bro code? I did enjoy the atmosphere on the island especially the gothic castle and its poison garden. All fans of the series must read A Dangerous Collaboration as it advances the overarching story plus it is great fun. 5 stars!

Thanks to Berkley Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Long story short: the best one yet!!!

This series is by far one of my favorites and I have been looking forward to this installment since I finished the last one. Truly, my most anticipated new release for 2019 (so I'm lucky it came out so early in the year, patience not being my strong suit) and with good reason.

The mystery in this one is especially interesting because it takes place on a small island, somewhat akin to a locked-room mystery, as it would be nearly impossible for the missing person to have left the island - alive or dead - without someone having helped and others having noticed. Yet it's been three years and she disappeared without a trace. What happened to her? Why? Who knows the truth?

Though Stoker and Veronica are a bit at odds, they still make an impressive team and make relatively quick work of the investigation. Though I had a very strong suspicion who might have done it, the why was less clear to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed how the truth was unraveled.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this particular adventure is the setting. Far away from the hustle and bustle of London life, on a charming and remote island, in a castle full of priest holes and steeped in legend...what's not to love? Add superstitious locals - who tell stories about selkies, claiming to have special "gifts" such as "the sight" - and seances, ghostly music, and a poison garden and you've got a delightful gothic-lite atmosphere.

My favorite thing about this series has been and will continue to be the relationship between Veronica and Stoker. Every book brings them closer and this one, oh my gods, this one was so ripe with tension and anticipation I nearly burst. *Spoiler Alert* And now I have to wait for the next book to see if they finally get there, and I swear Deanna Raybourn, this torture is going to be the end of me. I can't take it. So, so close and then...wait until book 5! NO!!! It's going to be a long, painful wait. But I'm telling myself that book 5 is where it's finally going to happen. And it's going to be epic. Epic, I say!!!

Obviously, I recommend this book and the series (you definitely want to read the others beforehand to get the full weight of Veronica and Stoker's relationship). All day long I'd recommend them. To everyone.

Read. Them. All.

P.S. That cover! The whole set is just stupendous.

Veronica and Stoker Pursue the Mystery of a Missing Bride

Veronica and Stoker have feelings for each other that they are unsuccessfully trying to keep from showing. When Tiberius, Stoker’s older brother, asks Veronica to accompany him to a house party, much to Stoker’s chagrin, she agrees. Tiberius has a yen for Veronica. His motives for inviting her to the house party become even more suspect when he asks her to pose as his finacée. However, there is the lure of a very special butterfly, so Veronica agrees.

The house party is held on an island from which there is no escape, in a suitably Gothic manor house. When Victoria arrives, she learns that all the guests are connected to the host’s missing bride, Rosamund. The bride vanished on her wedding day. It seems strange that she would run away, but they haven’t been able to find her on the island either.

Not surprisingly Stoker arrives at the party. He is clearly unwilling to give Tiberius a free had with Veronica. This interplay between Veronica and Stoker make this my favorite book in the series to date. I had been hoping for them to acknowledge their feelings and this story presented the opportunity.

The atmosphere is suitable eerie. There’s even a poison garden tended by the owner’s sister. In someways, I was reminded of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. It was altogether a satisfying book: interesting characters, hard-to-guess plot, chilling atmosphere.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

This may be my favorite in the series to date. Each book has improved upon the previous in the series. A very enjoyable addition to the series, and I can't wait for the next one!

Is there truly anything better than a tantalizing mystery and a slow burn romance all set in England during the 19th century?

Maybe but you would be hard pressed to find it!

The Veronical Speedwell series is just so much fun. It has been a favorite of mine since the very first book and the stories, the mysteries, the characters and the romance aspect, just keep getting better and better.

Raybourn is an amazing writer with the ability to create a heroine that rivals any era but her headstrong, smart, ambitious and very determined and sometimes sassy heroines of the 19th century, are by far my favorite. Add in her thrilling mysteries that keep you on your toes and a romance/friendship that is every bit as delicious and you have an irresistible read that is so very hard to put down.

Her latest set in a castle on a very secluded island shrouded with forklore, legends, and mysteries in and of itself and you truly have a mouthwatering read that will keep you eagerly turning the pages and refusing to put it down.

Add in a touch of sexual tension, murder, and the shenanigans that Veronica always manages to find herself in, the sexy gruffness that is Stoker, and this was truly my favorite yet. So stinking good and it just made me want the next book that much more.

At a house party on a secluded island with her partner Stoker and his brother Lord Templeton-Vane, Veronica and Stoker find themselves enmeshed in the mystery of the vanishing bride of their host Malcolm Romilly. This novel intertwines the electric attraction between Stoker and Veronica with the story behind the disappearance of Rosamund. The building tension as they discover each clue and fight their feelings for each other escalates until I was eagerly flipping pages to reach the climax of this story.

As the fourth novel in the series, A Dangerous Collaboration is on the cusp of finally giving the reader what we’ve been waiting for… the end of Veronica and Stoker dancing around their feelings for each other. Well, at least that’s what I’ve been waiting for! Each novel has also had a great mystery for them to solve, and this one is no different. Adding in the personal element of Stoker’s brother Tiberius’ relationship with both the bride and groom and this made for a great whodunnit. However, I continue to eagerly pick up these novels because of the tension filled dialog between our two main characters. This novel did not disappoint in that regard.

I’ve admired Veronica through this series for her modernity, her pursuit of a career, and her intelligence. I’ll admit to being just a little frustrated with her desire to talk herself out of her feelings for Stoker wanting that aspect of this series to speed up. Especially how the last novel ended with their feelings revealed! BUT, this was such a great follow up and true to Veronica’s personality that I can’t stay mad for too long that I didn’t quite get what I’d been looking for from the two of them… I can only hope that day will come soon!

The supporting characters in this book gave this novel a more Agatha Christie feel to the mystery. Unlike the previous novels which were mostly set in a big city, A Dangerous Collaboration was set in a remote island location and the characters were simpler or more country which added charm to what had been a more urban feeling series. I really enjoyed the change of scene and the Clue-like aspect to the mystery. Was Rosamund killed in the observatory with a candlestick? I’ll never tell! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a free copy of this ARC for my honest review and it was honest!

This is the fourth book in the Veronica Speedwell series and I can't get over how great it is. In A Dangerous Collaboration, Veronica and Stoker find themselves on a tiny Cornish island investigating a years-old disappearance. There is just as much wit and sexual tension in this book as the first three plus I learned many new useful words. I just have one gripe for this book: Veronica originally agreed to visit this island to obtain larvae of the Romilly Glasswing butterfly (she is a Lepidopterist after all) but there is no mention of her doing so at the end of the book. I love the Lepidoptery aspects of these books and would love just a tad more of them. Overall, this is a strong fourth book in the series and I can't recommend it enough.

It's March 1888, and heroine Veronica Speedwell and her business and adventure partner Revelstoke Templeton-Vane, "Stoker", are in London cataloguing the family natural history collection of the Earl of Rosemorran. Veronica had apparently come dangerously close to revealing her heart to Stoker which unsettled her greatly. They've been at this cat and mouse game for some time. But given her background, she is steadfast in her commitment to never marry - she'll be the chattel of no man. So off to Madeira she goes with friend, Lady Cordelia, the Earl's sister, in search of her precious Lampides boeticus (butterfly) and to allow her heart to settle.

Soon upon her return to London, Stoker's eldest brother, Lord (Tiberius) Templeton-Vane asks Veronica to accompany him to his childhood friend's castle on the isle of St. Maddern with the promise of procuring specimens of the believed to be extinct Oleria romillia (Romilly Glasswing butterfly). What Tiberius had neglected to share with her is that Lord Malcolm Romilly had requested Tiberius' attendance at the family's island estate to help solve the mystery of his beloved's disappearance on their wedding day, three year's prior. Of course Stoker shows up uninvited but that turns out to be for the best as they unravel the whereabouts of Lady Romilly. Did she get cold feet and leave the island without notice? Was there foul play involved? If murdered, where's the body?

There's a lot more to this story than I should let on. So, I'll stop right here. I adore this heroine and her independence, fearlessness, and love of adventure. The writing is delicious and the clever cheeky banter between Veronica, Stoker and Tiberius is brilliant.

Don't be fooled (as I initially was) by the charming and mystical artwork on the cover of the Veronica Speedwell mystery series. It is not young adult fiction. It is an historical fiction mystery series with a touch of romance, innuendo and is definitely fodder for the adult mind.

Even though this book is fourth in series, it can easily stand alone. But as good as it is, you'll probably want to read them all. I certainly will be catching up on the earlier installments of this fun series.

I am grateful to publisher Berkely and Netgalley for having provided a free uncorrected proof e-book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.

I’m inordinately fond of the Veronica Speedwell Mysteries. One of the things that has drawn me to this series is the dichotomy of your setting (Victorian era England) and the nontraditional aspects of these stories (characters and situations not typically found in Victorian stories).

A Dangerous Collaboration is the fourth outing in the Veronica Speedwell Mysteries and it brings us an interesting adventure at a remote country estate where a bride has been missing for three years. I loved how there is development in Stoker and Veronica’s relationship with each other and how we learn more about Stoker’s family, particularly his brother Lord Templeton-Vane. I also think the mystery in this one is particularly well done. It was fascinating to me how the plot hinges on loyalty (unfortunately is the loyalty of a warped mind) and loyalty to an ideal can be dangerous. This book also had for me one of the most gripping and heart-wrenching moments of the series so fair warning.

I like this series, and I really like Deanna Raybourn. This one wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely an improvement from the last installment. It was a bit strange having the physical and emotional distance between Veronica and Stoker, and then it was a bit strange for them to be essentially trapped together on an island, their investigation taking them nowhere (physically). So the pace of the series slowed dramatically, but I think it's going to be like a roller coaster climbing a hill and it will accelerate from here. This mystery, while cold (and therefore not as fast-paced as others), incorporated some interesting elements of Cornish superstition, English religious history, and 19th century spiritualism. And while it started slowly, it definitely picked up toward the end. So all in all, I'm looking forward to seeing where this series goes next.

Veronica Speedwell and Stoker are off on another adventure but they are not on the same page about their relationship. Set on a island off of Cornwall and with a great cast of characters the question of where and what happened to a bride on her wedding day is at the heart of the story. The plot is full of twists and turns. The bride was not at all what she seemed and as her relationships with each of the characters come to life new twists and turns abound. Added to the mix is the change in the relationship of Veronica and Stoker. Never a dull moment as the story progresses. This is book four and the series just keeps getting better.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Minor possible spoilers for the previous books in the series …


Deanna Raybourn's books are always a good time. Her characters are brilliant, the dialogue snaps, and the plots are twisty and fun. These books are popcorn for the soul, light, fluffy, and leave you both feeling better and wanting more at the end.

The setting for this installment really takes the cake. The fairytale-like island in the Atlantic is gorgeously rendered and the legends of ghosts, piskies, and mermaids contrast nicely with mysteries of murder and missing brides.

Veronica and Stoker are in top form, the will-they-won't-they dynamic in full swing. I love that in Veronica, Raybourn gives us an intelligent, active character, and is willing to follow through on that aspect. Veronica Speedwell might not be able to save herself in every instance, but god damn is she going to try. No waiting on the handsome man for her.

If you're a fan of the series, this is the perfect next installment. If you haven't started the series yet, you really ought to be starting with the first book.

I initially tried to read Deanna Raybourn's A Curious Beginning, but had trouble with the first-person narrative, as well as the somewhat over-the-top assuredness of the heroine, Veronica Speedwell. But a blurb about A Dangerous Collaboration in All About Romance highlighting the relationship between Veronica and her investigative partner Stoker caught my attention and I decided to give Raybourn's mysteries another chance. After glomming the first three books to catch up, A Dangerous Collaboration is my favorite next to the first in the series. The mystery was tighter to me, probably because the characters were situated for the duration of the novel in one location, instead of roadtripping, and encountering a myriad of new characters, and the personal stakes throughout seemed higher.

Stoker's brother, Tiberius, has enticed Veronica into accompanying him on a visit to an old friend in a castle in a remote part of Cornwall (with promises of a rare butterfly, of course). Stoker and Veronica are on the outs due to Veronica taking flight after the events of A Treacherous Curse, when they both found themselves emotionally vulnerable to each other. The mystery begins to unspool quickly when Stoker joins them, and the cast of characters tries to resolve the disappearance of their host's bride, Rosamund, who disappeared on their wedding day, and whose history intertwines with Tiberius. We get a deepening understanding of the relationship between Tiberius and Stoker, and Veronica's inner thoughts were more human to me as she worked through her feelings for Stoker.

What I love the most about the series are the two protagonists. As someone who reads a lot of romance, it's rare to see a complicated pair of male and female protagonists, full of confidence and unapologetic directness, and both fully formed when the reader first encounters them. They are very well matched, and having A Dangerous Collaboration move their relationship forward made for a strong read for me. Looking forward to the next installment!

The setting being removed from London to St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall along with the forward progress in Stoker and Veronica's sloooooow moving relationship make this the best installment in the series to date. That being said, the payoff in this one was a little disappointing and I felt like it could have been fleshed out a bit more as it happened kind of abruptly, but I was still overall pleased with the result. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Tiberius' old friend's former fiancee was interesting but not very shocking in its revelation but the mystery in these books is never the focal point anyway. These books will always be about the slow-burning romance, which is fine with me. 4 stars.