Tiberius has received a cryptic message-along with the obituaries of two recently deceased members of his old group of friends, the Seven Sinners-that he too should get his affairs in order. Realizing he is in grave danger but not knowing why, he plans a reunion party for the remaining Sinners at his family estate to lure the killer out while Veronica and Stoker investigate.
As the guests arrive and settle in, the evening's events turn deadly. More clues come to light, leading Veronica, Stoker, and Tiberius to uncover a shared past among the Sinners that has led to the fatal present. But the truth might be far more sinister than what they were prepared for.
Comment: This is the 8th installment in the Veronica Speedwell series, which I have been enjoying lately, and this time Veronica and Stoker's adventure is in a place where Stoker has some fond and not so fond, childhood memories...
When Tiberius seeks out Veronica so they could travel to Bavaria, where Stoker has gone to after their last adventure and complicated conversation, she agrees, for she wants to have things back to normal with Stoker. Tiberius has a trick up his sleeve to convince Stoker to come back but the real reason behind this is that he has received a note saying he will be dead next, the same way other childhood friends have recently died. Tiberius thinks only one of two other friends could be guilty so he invites them and their wives, along with two neighbors, for a house party, with the excuse of paying homage to another friend, who died on the cliffs near the family house several years ago. At first it seems everyone is having a good time and nothing is out of the ordinary, but then, someone dies...
This is already what many readers would consider a long series (clearly there others which win against this one, hands down) and it is to be expected that certain elements might sound repetitive, even though the plots of each book in the series had individual events and the focus was heavier on those. Nevertheless, there is this continuous development of the core of the story, which is Veronica's life and of those around her. The romance with Stoker is quite subtle but rewarding in its own way.
I suppose I should not be this picky, after all the writing is consistently appealing and clever, the characters are witty and well constructed and it does show the certain amount of effort and time the author puts in to create something cohesive and captivating. However, it is a little irritating by now how indecisive these characters have been and I'm not fully convinced by their arguments of why not having a more established relationship, mainly Veronica. I don't mean say, marry already!, but why aren't these intelligent, mostly happy people more confident in their feelings, especially if this element is such a good part of the series?
Anyway, personal preferences aside, I was once more captivated by this adventure and the new things we discover about the main characters. I particularly liked knowing a bit more about Stoker's and Tiberius' childhood years and how were things at the family estate in the country. I do wish we had more focus on this too or that Stoker's brothers could play a heavier role in the books. This time it was also fun to have them interact with Merry, Stoker's youngest brother.
The plot was also one that interested me more, the search for a killer of years ago, who murdered a friend of Tiberius, from a group he was part of in his youth years. His friend Lorenzo was killed, although the death deemed an accident at the cliffs, but someone has found out the truth and is killing the group of friends one by one. Tiberius has gotten a message warning him he is next and instead of waiting, he decides to be on the attack and invites the only possible authors to his estate, where he hopes Stoker and Veronica might help find the culprit. As expected, this part of the novel was, indeed, exciting and offered interesting twists and turns.
Since the possible killers aren't many and one dies at some point, of course the choice wouldn't be much, and I have to say that while I could not guess why, the who wasn't that surprising. The psychological aspects regarding the killer's intentions and motivations were quite well used and I could accept why things happened the way they did. Of course, some small details were conveniently handy here and there, but in a time without technology and cameras, I suppose it had to do.
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