Deanna Raybourn - An Unexpected Peril

January 1889. As the newest member of the Curiosity Club—an elite society of brilliant, intrepid women—Veronica Speedwell is excited to put her many skills to good use. As she assembles a memorial exhibition for pioneering mountain climber Alice Baker-Greene, Veronica discovers evidence that the recent death was not a tragic climbing accident but murder. Veronica and her natural historian beau, Stoker, tell the patron of the exhibit, Princess Gisela of Alpenwald, of their findings. With Europe on the verge of war, Gisela's chancellor, Count von Rechstein, does not want to make waves—and before Veronica and Stoker can figure out their next move, the princess disappears.
Having noted Veronica's resemblance to the princess, von Rechstein begs her to pose as Gisela for the sake of the peace treaty that brought the princess to England. Veronica reluctantly agrees to the scheme. She and Stoker must work together to keep the treaty intact while navigating unwelcome advances, assassination attempts, and Veronica's own family—the royalty who has never claimed her.

Comment: This is the sixth installment in the Veronica Speedwell series, which I have been following for some time, featuring an independent heroine in Victorian times.

In this new story, Veronica and Stoker are getting used to their pretty much domestic lives and Veronica seems to feel the weight of the expectations it might cause. Suddenly, on the follow up to the setting up of an exhibit on mountain climbing and the intrepid women in the field on the club Veronica is part of, a tragedy: Alice Baker-Greene, a young woman but with years of experience, has died of a fall. All points to an accident but while preparing things recovered from the campaign, it seems as if Alice's rope had been cut with a sharp object. The patron of the exhibit, princess Gisele of Alpenwald who receives the news with shock, disappears and then it seems as if Veronica and Stoker must help the small country so that political conflicts won't escalate. What happened to Alice? Why did the princess disappear and who is at fault?

I'll say this book didn't captivate me as much as others in the series have. I liked it, I've read it with interest and I've recognized all the little details in it which have made me like the other books in the series too, but the overall result is one of less impact to my personal taste.

Veronica and Stoker are, for all purposes, a couple, although since the narrative is always told only from Veronica's POV, we only know her mind - or what she chooses to share - and we must infer things from Stoker's POV. I've found this didn't matter to me much because Veronica is a complex but assertive character and her "voice" an appealing one to follow. This means, however, we don't get pointless descriptive scenes of their daily lives and intimacy, only the necessary ones for the plot and emotional development.

However, because of this, it can be a bit frustrating to see how Veronica feels trapped sometimes in her relationship with Stoker and she keeps defending the idea her feelings are true but only physically based. Basically, she wants things to remain as they are and doesn't want any kind of formal commitment and I must say this is quite realistic if we think about her personality and characterization. If the author had focused on this and nothing more, they could be a couple, I'd not think about and simply accept it as fact. But the truth is, the author keeps using this as part of their journey and I can't help but feel disappointed that they don't see themselves on the same page, or that this idea is even suggested.

Probably, the next books will also feature this situation and its evolution, but the constant references, here and there, instead of simply letting me know this is an ongoing issue, remind me that things are not settled and this is, for me, annoying. Anyway, I know these characters aren't traditionally portrayed, in the sense of how we expect a couple to evolve, but I'm hoping the author can recover that initial tension and chemistry they had in the first two books, which were wonderful to me, when it comes to the romantic relationship and all possibilities were open.

As for the plot of the book, obviously there's a lot on mountain climbing and on the fictional small country of Alpenwald, which I see more or less like Lichtenstein, meaning a small place nestled between Germany and Switzerland, where mountains abound and lovers of mountain climbing flock to. I liked the plot, between the investigation of Alice's death and the need to help the Alpenwalders who were in a state visit in England, but I admit some details passed me by and I wasn't as focused on the individual things as I was on the big picture.

I'd add that the whole plan to make Veronica - due to her similar looks to princess Gisela - pretend to be the princess to avoid any repercussions of her missing for a while to reach the public awareness was a bit silly. I know part of these books is heavily based on unlikely behaviors and elements but nevertheless, I've felt this plan was only useful to promote a certain scene and that was incredibly disappointing. I think the author could have done such a things much better in a different way.

When we learn the identity of the villain, it was one of those things that can be seen as too obvious because the character never seemed to be considered, but at the same time it was so convenient how that same character was specifically developed, so... I can't say if I liked it or not. I think some details about the plot and the mysterious surrounding it were OK, others not that much.

All in all, still something I've appreciated and it is true the global result is as competent as the others, but it's probably one of my least favorite books in the series.

Grade:7/10