A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn
Veronica Speedwell #9
Historical Mystery
March 12, 2024- Berkley
ARC

Review by Angela

The latest Veronica Speedwell mystery begins unassumingly–with Stoker and Veronica enjoying some quiet time at the Belvedere, working alongside each other and taking a break from murder and mayhem. That is until Lord Rosemorran brings home a wax figure in a glass coffin, as a present to his young daughter. It doesn’t take very long for Veronica and Stoker to realize that this is no wax figure, but the dead body of a real woman, perfectly preserved, and quite anonymous.

I think this is one of my favorites of the series to date. Veronica and Stoker have been through some things. Es-spouses showing up out of the blue, Veronica coming to terms with her unmarried/care-free life vs. admitting she loves Stoker and wants to be with him, murder investigations, near death experiences, and dealing with each of their dysfunctional families. It’s a lot. But they are finally in a good place, and I absolutely love it.

This mystery was well done. And so very interesting. I really had no idea there was a time when physicians used lifelike wax figures to teach anatomy and physiology. As you can imagine, Veronica and Stoker are determined to identify the young woman and find out if she was murdered. They enlist two of their allies, the reporter J.J. Butterworth and Metropolitan police officer Mornaday, to help with the investigation. But if you’ve followed along with this series at all, you know most of the detective work is done by them and them alone. They revel in being in the thick of things.

There were quite a few suspects, and I think the author did a great job of stringing clues along until the very end. This villain was rather creepy, especially in their Frankenstein-like obsession with the science of reanimation. All in all, this was a great addition to the series. I’m almost mad at myself for reading it so early. Now begins the wait for book ten.

Grade- B+