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A Dangerous Collaboration

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Member Reviews

A Dangerous Collaboration is the newest Veronica Speedwell installment by Deanna Raybourn. Stoker and Veronica find themselves on another adventure with none other than Stoker"s brother Tiberius. Veronica is persuaded to join Tiberius at the castle home of his oldest friend Malcolm Romilliy. Malcolm's family is quirky and a bit on the prickly side. Stoker and Tiberius can barely be in the same room with one another and Veronica is now being referred to as Tiberius' fiance. Add a missing wife, a poison garden and a young heir to the estate and suddenly all bets are off. Fun, fast paced and the ongoing are they or aren't they questions make this an all around enjoyable read. Well done Deanna, can't wait for the next book!

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First, I would like to give a big thanks to the publisher and author for gifting me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I also received book three in the Veronica Speedwell series from Netgalley and it was my first glimpse at the series and at this author. I fell in love with Veronica and so enjoyed reading the books in this series. I got book one and two and quickly read through both so I was very excited to receive an advanced copy of book four. I find Veronica to be such a strong, clever, witty, likable character and I love reading the witty and friendly (sometimes flirty) dialogue between her and Stoker, her business partner. The mysteries are fun and have always provided surprises and twists that kept me from guessing the ending. The books are still light and easy reads, not anything dark or heavy- even though investigating murder. I relate these to a grown up version of the Flavia de Luce novels. Definitely a series and author I will always keep my eye on anticipating the next title!

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Love, love, love this series! I've enjoyed all 4 books so far and can't wait for the next one (and hope there will be more than 5 books in the series).

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This is one of my favorite series. The characters are interesting and the mystery keeps me engaged.. Veronica is a strong female lead. She and Stoker make a good partnership in their careers and in solving the mystery. I look forward to more books in the series.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review. - If you haven't tried this series I highly recommend you find them and read them in order due to character story line.

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A house party mystery with a poison garden, fake engagement, and a missing bride gives Deanna Raybourn a chance to make her Veronica Speedwell character shine. This is the fourth well-written mystery in this series and it remains a testament of the fun that a strong-willed woman with enough spunk can generate on the page.

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This is a new installment in a series of period mysteries, but requires no previous knowledge of the earlier volumes in the series to enjoy, a big plus for me. Veronica Speedwell and her mystery-solving partner Stoker become embroiled in a mystery that includes elements of the Victorian ghost story The Mistletoe Bough, pirate lore on the Cornish Coast, Spiritualism, and poison gardens. As Veronica and Stoker try to figure out the disappearance of a bride who vanished on her wedding night, they must also contend with Stoker's brother's interest in Veronica and their own slow-burn romance. While the mystery solves itself when the murderer announces themselves, the story is still entertaining and a fun read with good characters and little details that charm the reader (Chester the felt mouse, among others).

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I love the Veronica Speedwell series with its naturalist leading lady and her colleague, Stoker, who get pulled into solving mysteries and fighting their mutual attraction to one another. As the book opens, Veronica and Stoker have a very strained relationship following her extended trip to Portugal. Things get a little dicier when Stoker’s brother, Lord Templeton-Vane, entices Veronica to join him on a trip to Cornwall with the chance to see a butterfly thought previously to be extinct. Stoker manages to wrangle an invitation as well.

Their arrival at the secluded island in Cornwall reveals there were ulterior motives to the invitation when their host, Malcolm Romilly, asks them to find out what happened to his bride, Rosamund, who disappeared on their wedding day, three years previously.

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This was my introduction to Deanna Raybourn and the Veronica Speedwell adventures. I missed that this was an established series with a fan base. Once I had this realization, I was worried, but decided to read on, so glad I did. This was a wonderful adventure with rich characters and vivid setting. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.
Sincere thanks to NetGallery for providing my review copy.

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Swoon*. How much do I love Veronica and Stoker? Like the most.

And trap them on an isolated island with a very "And then there were none" feel? I'm so into it.

Stoker's brother invited Veronica to an old friend's island castle for some butterfly stuff. Of course she can't refuse. Stoker ends up tagging along and the whole triangle gets messy. Malcom is the castle owner, and lives with his sister on this isolated island. The island has it's own mythology and the island inhabitants are full of "witches" and "mer-folk". The reason they were invited to come to the island (other than butterfiles) is revelaed in dramatic fashion. A day after marrying Malcom, young Rosamind goes missing. He believes she never left the island, but was instead murdered, and wants his houseguests to determine what happened.

There are plenty of viable suspects....the former lover, the heir to the house, the sister who loves her gardens, and then there is her husband as well.

The culprit is someone I didn't see coming....and this is the second book I've read recently that relies heavily on the "priest holes" of old homes/castles. I still love Veronica, and her relationship with Stoker takes a leap in this book that is wholy satisfying. The last chapter provides a hint on what they will do next....and reader? I'm here for it!

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I have been feeling a slump coming on.. so what better way to combat that terrible disease than by diving into a new instalment of favourite series, guaranteed to be a winner, a little earlier than planned? Well.. about that..

A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION is easily my least favourite of this series. Everything I loved about the mysteries, the characters, the potential for romance, the jokes, everything from the previous books, was either beat about like a dead horse, exaggerated, or put-off for very thin reasons. Nothing about this was working for me. After some skimming (yes, gasp, I confess..), I did eventually find myself at a place where there was a little bit of a brighter outlook on things for the future of the series, and the characters within it. But it took a hell of a long time to get there.

A series that taunts readers with an extended will-they-won't-they-okay-they-will-it's-just-when doesn't bother me. I love it. When it's done well. But I feel like.. it's not that this was stretched too long, I've waited longer, I just felt the obstructions and obstacles in book four were not believable or realistic for the characters. But, in general, I just felt everyone, and everything, was a little off in this one.

Because it would hurt too much to rate this beloved series too low, and I am hopeful for where things go in book five, not to mention the fact that I am happy to have read something to combat said aforementioned slump, I'm going to round up on this one. At least for now. I don't want to come back and drop it down but.. it might happen.

2.75 "he had adopted an attitude of Arctic hauteur. I blamed his aristocratic upbringing for that. and his nose" stars

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I was slightly disappointed to see that A Dangerous Collaboration does not start off right after the events of book 3 (that was quite the cliffhanger!), but instead jumps a few months into the future. However, the story quickly took off and I was absolutely hooked. Veronica Speedwell is one of my absolute favorite female detectives and this is yet another fantastic installment. The pacing is perfect, and I could hardly put the book down! The relationship between Veronica and Stoker is full of delicious tension, all while maintaining their unrelenting friendship. They are an amazing duo, and I cannot wait for more!

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While this was another delightful installment, I had some mixed feelings about the fourth book. I loved seeing Veronica & Stoker be their funny and witty selves trying to solve yet another mystery. This one though felt a little too drawn out and so I was missing some of the action that was featured in the earlier books. I still would recommend reading it as part of the series ---mostly due to the development between Veronica & Stoker's relationship.

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Deanna Raybourn transported me to a Rebecca-Esque seaside with eery folklores. Thank you for the much anticipated change in relationships. This book was definitely a segway to change up the relationship between the characters. Each of the installments in this series so far dived into each character and gave much depth. I had a few key guesses on who the culprit might be and I still love the bantering and understanding between Stoker, Veronica and even... Tiberius. I can’t wait for the next book.

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I'm a huge fan of the author and have read all of her books. I enjoy this series and the chemistry between the protagonists. This installment was a bit of a disappointment, however. The plot was convoluted and I found myself skimming more often than not. The "will they-won't they" tease has become tiresome and the character of Veronica was downright unlikeable in parts. I was sort of rooting for Stoker to find someone more loving and deserving. Not what the author was intending I'm sure.

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LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!!!!!

Oh my gosh, I loved this book so much. The tension between the two main characters, the mystery, the murder. So much fun!

I really like this series and hope it keeps going.

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Sincere thanks to NetGallery for providing my review copy. It would be an understatement to say I binged this as fast as my eyes could drink it in. Since I discovered the series in early 2018, it has been my hands down favorite across all genres. this addition was not only anticipated but didn’t disappoint.

Unlike the previous Speedwell novels, this one boasts a smaller cast of characters and I have to say I’m a little relieved. Although I don’t mind a bevy of personalities and intrigue, I appreciated not needing relationship diagrams to keep everyone (and their motives) straight. I also enjoyed getting a bit more personal time with the Templeton-Vane brothers, building out their backstories and why they might be drawn to the ever enigmatic Veronica Speedwell. Although Veronica never outright lies to her reader, she does fool herself often about the nature of her relationship with Stoker. That interplay of what’s real and what’s artifice felt natural in a way that’s difficult for many authors to execute without becoming tedious for the reader.

I’m throughly looking forward to re-reading this on a dark, stormy night and lingering over the gothic scenery, stark cliffs, and wild landscape. Now, to wait only another year or so until the next installment in this riveting series.

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I really enjoyed the newest installment. It was not that exciting at the beginning when she ran off after butterflies again, but thankfully her sojourn was brief. Tiberius came to whisk her off with what she liked best: rare butterflies. And Stoker invited himself along.

It was kind of Gothic and reminded me of Great Expectations. The murder mystery was well played. We get to see all these characters and their motivations.

I thought that the invention of the secluded island was wonderful. I loved the twists and turns, particularly the final one when Stoker finally is pushed to confess to Veronica how he feels about her. One great touch was the poison garden, which I found informative. Quite a few medicinal plants are poisonous if there are large doses, and there's clearly research done on poisonous plants. Overall, I deeply enjoyed this book as well as the gentle cliffhanger leading into the next one.

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Why hadn't I heard of this series before? A thrill ride from beginning to end. I couldn't believe that I stumbled upon another historical history novel with a mystery. I love those. I am so glad to have read this. I felt like I needed to read the other books in the series because I was missing out on it. So I recommend you read those first, then rush through that one so you can get to this one. I will definitely be doing that.

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Veronica Speedwell is on a fascinating adventure in yet another fabulous addition to a favorite series! Deanna Raybourn never disappoints!

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Veronica and Stoker usually have a very easy-going partnership, but when romance is starts rearing it's ugly head Veronica speeds off without Stoker on a solo mission. Upon her return six months later, their 'partnership' is more strained. Unhelpfully, Veronica agrees to go on a trip with Stoker's brother and pretend to be his fiance.

Those who have been reading these sequentially will greatly enjoy the fact that Stoker and Veronica's romance is finally coming to a head, and that they will finally have to talk about things that are usually inferred or completely pushed to the side. The murder-mystery aspect on the island where this takes place is also of interest, but is almost secondary.

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