An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn - REVIEW

An Impossible Impostor (Veronica Speedwell Mysteries #7) by Deanna Raybourn

Publication Date: February 15th, 2022

Publisher: Berkley

Genre: Historical Mystery

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Synopsis:

London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch. He has a personal request on behalf of his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. After years of traveling the world, her eldest brother, Jonathan, heir to Hathaway Hall, was believed to have been killed in the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa a few years before.

But now a man matching Jonathan's description and carrying his possessions has arrived at Hathaway Hall with no memory of his identity or where he has been. Could this man truly be Jonathan, back from the dead? Or is he a devious impostor, determined to gain ownership over the family's most valuable possessions--a legendary parure of priceless Rajasthani jewels? It's a delicate situation, and Veronica is Sir Hugo's only hope.

Veronica and Stoker agree to go to Hathaway Hall to covertly investigate the mysterious amnesiac. Veronica is soon shocked to find herself face-to-face with a ghost from her past. To help Sir Hugo discover the truth, she must open doors to her own history that she long believed to be shut for good.

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Thoughts:

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another amazing installment to a series I hope will go on forever!

Raybourn continues to find interesting plots and scenarios to put Veronica and Stoker into and one of the reveals actually made me gasp. And I don’t audibly gasp easily!

Veronica and Stoker are back in fine form with banter and hijinx a-plenty. I always enjoy how this series is written from Veronica’s POV to the point of her writing the events herself. I don’t know why but some books make this more obvious than others and I found this one to break the 4th wall more frequently which was fun.

There are a few devices used within the story that I am generally not a fan of (i.e. keeping secrets for the sake of someones ‘own good’) but I was easily able to overlook it because everything happening on page had sucked me in. Especially the fact that we are in a new location with a whole new cast of characters to learn about. Our tried and true side characters from previous books are still around but the majority take a back seat off-page to make way for some fresh faces.

I do wish we had a bit more from Stoker and just more of them together in general but it is understandable that the series of events would make them work separately for a while. Their relationship is one of my favourite parts about the series though so I missed that a bit with this one.

The mystery itself was unique in that it was more than what it appeared to be at first glance. I know these books are great at layering plot and mysteries but I felt this one went deeper than the synopsis hints at which was fun.

I always find it hard to review subsequent books in a series and since this is book 7 (!!) I don’t want to say anything that could be considered too spoilery. That being said, if you are up to this book in the series, I feel like you know what to expect and are here for the long-haul. I don’t see Raybourn letting us down any time soon.

The Veronica Speedwell Mysteries series continues to be a delight and a release I look forward to every year. With how things are left at the end of this latest installment, I truly cannot wait to see what direction Veronica will take!