The second entry in this series brings back Veronica Speedwell and Stoker Templeton-Vane as they try to solve the mystery of a brutal murder in 19th century London. As with the first book, the mystery itself turns out to be secondary; what really shines are the fun characters, witty dialog, and the story’s insistence on defying all expectations of how people in Victorian England should behave.
Victoria, for example, is a highly independent woman who is intentionally unmarried (despite many “dalliances” with foreigners), earns money through her own work as a scientist, and travels all over the world as an adventurer. She never says or does what you’d expect a proper Victorian lady to say or do, which means every scene with her has the potential to be entertaining and funny. And this book leans especially hard into this impropriety, with half the dialog being about sex, penises, orgies, and other topics you’d never expect to be discussed in high society.
Paired up with Victoria is Stoker, who tries to act as a proper gentleman, but is himself an improbable combination of scientist, former soldier and naval surgeon, a social pariah (despite being part of a noble family), tall, dark, and handsome (and also unreasonably strong and muscular). The two make for an unlikely pair, and the book does a fantastic job of playing them off each other.
And then, of course, there’s the slow-burn romance between them. They clearly love each other, and respect each other, but it’s book two, and they still haven’t properly hooked up. The sexual tension is so thick that it permeates every scene, to the point where you’re just screaming, “JUST KISS ALREADY!” (side note: as of today, this is also the text of the top review on GoodReads for this book).
The book can be funny and witty, to the extent where you barely notice that the plot and mystery are largely nonsensical. This is NOT a Sherlock Holmes or Poirot story. This is effectively a rom-com set in 19th century England. And you know what? It works.
