First line: I stared down into the open grave and wished I could summon a tear.

Summary: Miss Veronica Speedwell loves adventures and has no desire to be tied down in a marriage of convenience. An unusual specimen of woman in the Victorian era, she is a scientist
— lepidopterist to be exact — who is exceptionally skilled in finding the rare butterflies the world over for her clients. When Veronica's guardian dies, leaving her blessedly, wonderfully alone to pursue the kind of life she wants to live, she finds herself living a true adventure, with the mysterious Stoker. She foils her own abduction, with the help of a German baron with ties to her own mysterious past. But when the baron is found murdered, the chase is on.

Highlights: Veronica is a refreshingly honest character, around whom mysteries seem to abound. She appears to be rather fearless (but not completely), although she is undoubtedly determined to see every adventure through to its end. The story moves along at a perfect pace, not too fast and not too slow, while revealing its secrets perfectly. There is just the right mix of humor and adventure and mystery and suspense, all with a quite satisfactory ending.

Lowlights (or what could have been better): As with any first book in a series, there is time dedicated to setting up the story and characters. However, I did not find that to be distracting or boring in any way.

FYI: Few references to sexual activity (but no graphic sexual scenes at all). After all, Veronica is a woman with much worldly experience.

Another in the series of mysteries featuring Veronica Speedwell. Set in Victorian England, Veronica buries her elderly aunt and begins a new adventure. A butterfly hunter and scientist she wants to have more adventures both in nature and in romance.
Almost abducted she finds herself under the protection of Stoker, a strange man who is a taxidermist working on an elephant. The game is on to find who wants to kidnap Veronica .
This is a fun cozy read with an ending the reader may not have guessed.

THIS. This is how you write a mystery. I was hooked from the first chapter and after that, all hope was lost for me. I couldn't put the book down--and I didn't want to, at all. The words, the characters, everything about this was amazing and I loved everything about it! I can't wait to read more!

Great start to a historian mystery series! Veronica Speedwell and Stoker were both very engaging characters and I enjoyed the antics and humor that this one provided in the midst of the investigation.

The storyline was good and the characters were even better!

This book was an entertaining enough read, but also felt very overdone. If you're into mysteries at all you've certainly read books before with quirky, socially unacceptable, but highly intelligent detectives. There was nothing particularly original about these characters, and nothing so outstanding about the book otherwise that makes it feel very special or memorable.

I found this novel to be funny, witty, action-packed, and delightful. Veronica Speedwell is a spitfire that takes nothing from nobody and fights for what she believes. She is very much a modern woman who knows what she wants, goes out and gets it. Stoker is her perfect match with just as much wit and enough ruggedness to keep a girl swooning all day. The conversations between the two are so well written that one can’t help but get caught up in their romance (even when they are, all too often, bickering).
The settings are drawn out nicely and secondary characters are described thoroughly. Everyone has a personality and a place that they belong. Raybourn’s world building is excellent. I feel that the only complaint I have is that the language is so dated and fast paced that it became exhausting to read through Veronica’s mind. She was often long-winded and, with the use of the proper language of the time, sounded too snooty to be liked. Even so, I look forward to more adventures with Veronica and Stoker in the future.

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn is a book that I have been irrationally putting off reading for what feels like forever. I do not even know why I did not immediately pick this book up. You see, I feel a certain affinity for Raybourn’s books and the heroines who star in them. As it turns out, this book was everything I had expected and a little bit more.

Similar to the Lady Julia Grey books, A Curious Beginning opens up with a funeral. Veronica Speedwell is at the funeral for her aunt Nell Harbottle. She is now all alone in this world. However, Veronica is not all that cut up about it. Rather, she’s looking forward to going wherever the wind blows her. Upon returning to her cottage to pack a few things and leave, she ends up meeting a baron who warns her that her life is danger and she must come with them.

Meanwhile, there’s a burglar in her cottage and thus, a chain of events is set into motion. Veronica heads to London with the baron, who places her in the care of a man named Stoker – who is a naturalist. The baron ends up murdered and it is on Veronica and Stoker to unravel what exactly happened to the baron. Along the way, they also come face to face with some secrets from Veronica’s past. This book, FYI, is characteristic Deanna Raybourn writing all the way through and through and I LOVED basically every word, page, and minute spent reading.

Veronica Speedwell is the sort of person I want to grow up to be, although I am definitely older than she is. The main character of A Curious Beginning is a butterfly hunter by trade. More than that, she’s quite ahead of her time as far as women’s liberation goes. She’s not simpering or simple minded. In fact, she’s quite proud of being smart and of her adventuring throughout the world hunting butterflies for her collection and to sell. Also, she has engaged in several dalliances with non-Englishmen from the Continent and basically I admire her for her willingness to engage in all sorts of romances.

So, actually speaking of romance. There’s totally chemistry between Veronica and Stoker. He’s got secrets of his own and quite the shadowy past. He also serves in the protector role, but in all honesty, Veronica is well able to look after herself. The two follow my favorite trope which is that of antagonism. I mean, it’s so obvious how much they annoy each other. Also, Veronica needles Stoker on purpose. It’s funny and comes with the result that you just want the two to hook up already. However, there’s a whole lot of slow burning going on with this book.

Aside from the characters that I am obsessed with and the romance, Raybourn does a fantastic job establishing time and place. The book is set in London in 1887. Queen Victoria is about to celebrate her golden jubilee. Society is kind of rigid, but different characters find themselves bending the rules. We get to come across a variety of scenes in London and I have to say that this book is very transporting. You’ll feel like you’re right there with Veronica and Stoker. Given all of these elements, I 100% recommend this book to anyone who loves a good historical mystery romance with quite the unique narrator. Also, I am so stoked to read the next in the series.

Enjoyed this story very much. Well written, good characters. A good read.

I really wanted to read this book because it sounds so intriguing, but I was unaware that it would be part of a series and I usually don't like to start them and not continue.

i thought this was a great first book in the series! i can't wait to enjoy more by this author. :)

“A Curious Beginning” eBook was published in 2015 and was written by Deanna Raybourn (http://www.deannaraybourn.com). Ms. Raybourn has published nearly 20 novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains minor scenes of Violence. The story is set in 1887 London. The primary character is orphan Veronica Speedwell, a young woman who has just been left on her own with the death of her aunt. She is an accomplished lepidopterist (she hunts butterflies) and a naturalist.

She returns home from the funeral to catch a strange man searching her aunt’s home. Avoiding him, she soon encounters a German Barron with whom she sets off for London. While she seems oblivious to any real threat to herself, the Barron convinces her to stay with his friend Stoker for her own safety.

This begins and adventure for Stoker and Speedwell. There is murder, mystery and revelations of Speedwell’s past. Stoker and Speedwell verbally clash again and again, yet there is a chemistry between them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 9+ hours I spent reading this Historical Mystery. I liked the characters of both Speedwell and Stoker, though for being so smart, Speedwell took far too long to be convinced of her own predicament. I liked that the story was set in late 19th century London. While the cover art does nothing to indicate a mystery, it does give a feel for the period. This is a series that I want to read more of. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

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The language! I absolutely adored the Victorian language of this novel. This is my first time reading this author, but I will definitely be back for more!

I also loved the character of Veronica, the little spitfire. She had such an easy and oftentimes hilarious banter with the other main character, Stoker. I highly enjoyed their misadventures and sleuthing.

The storyline took quite an exciting turn when the mystery was finally revealed - I was not expecting that at all!

My main complaint, as someone who hasn't eaten red meat for well over ten years, and is a lover is animals, was all the talk of killing animals and butterflies. It was a bit sensitive for me and I did skim over some parts. If this is a trigger for you, I would recommend avoiding.

I'm looking forward to book two in this series!

I stared into the open review box and wished I could summon five stars...
Alas, much like Veronica Speedwell, standing beside her Aunt's grave in the opening sentence of this historical mystery novel, I was simply unable to do what I wanted to do. She wished to summon a tear, and I could not give this novel five stars. Veronica did not seem anything like a 1800's heroine, forward -thinking or no. She seemed like a bit of a tart, to be honest. I am no puritan, but she just always seemed to be a little over the top, uncomfortably so. Stoker was little better, but even he seemed uncomfortable at times. The mystery was backseat to the banter that seemed to overwhelm the plot, and the rest of the novel seemed to plod along as a carrier for the clear relationship that is developing, rather than the relationship developing in response to the plot.
With that being said, I think it will still be a great series, there are great characters involved and the mystery is still a good force to be concerned with and much is still to be developed. There is a lot of room for the rest of the series to continue to grow.
I was provided a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.