{"id":6954,"date":"2026-03-05T05:16:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=6954"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:16:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:16:57","slug":"deanna-raybourn-a-ghastly-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/deanna-raybourn-a-ghastly-catastrophe\/","title":{"rendered":"Deanna Raybourn: A Ghastly Catastrophe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veronica Speedwell #10<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Although she certainly owes a debt to Elizabeth Peters and her character Amelia Peabody, Deanna Raybourn has managed her own memorable creations in the amusing Veronica Speedwell and her intriguing partner, Stoker.\u00a0 Veronica is an intrepid explorer and sleuth in London in the late 1880s who specializes in the study of butterflies. Her unmarried partnership with taxidermist and fellow explorer Stoker is beyond unconventional, but their shared aristocratic lineage lets them get away with a lot. They live on the estate of Lord Rosmorran as they catalogue his extensive collection of objects, but this idyllic existence seems fated to be interrupted by the murders and mysteries that inevitably come their way.<\/p>\n

In this outing a friend at Scotland Yard brings them a particularly mysterious case in which a man has been found exsanguinated with two very suggestive puncture marks on his neck.\u00a0 Soon after the discovery of the first man\u2019s body, another man finishes his coffee and with no explanation leaps to his death off his balcony.\u00a0 There was a social connection between the two men, and Scotland Yard wants Veronica and Stoker to see what they can uncover.<\/p>\n

Their investigation takes them to a certain Ruthven, who by Raybourn\u2019s delicious description has the appearance of a vampire, while his handmaiden, Asphodel, more resembles a witch.\u00a0 Over tea with the spooky pair many questions arise, and while Veronica may entertain the possibility of an actual vampire, Stoker remains more practical and skeptical.\u00a0 He also becomes enraged at Ruthven\u2019s manipulative machinations, including attempts at mesmerism and hallucinogens, and forges forward with the investigation.<\/p>\n

The two uncover another mysterious death buried in Ruthven\u2019s background and things get more dangerous and the stakes higher the deeper they dig.\u00a0 Raybourn uses every gothic trope possible in her storytelling, leaving it up to the reader to express skepticism or belief.\u00a0 You have to pay attention and use your head with her books, which is one of the reasons I enjoy them so much.<\/p>\n

Another reason is that Raybourn is a flat out great storyteller, with unmatched skill in pacing, twists and setting the historical background. She\u2019s also wonderful with character, keeping Veronica and Stoker interesting and fresh even ten books in. All her stories explore a different place in the Victorian world and imagination, with this book slyly referencing Bram Stoker and his Dracula, as well as the greater Gothic tradition.<\/p>\n

None of the research in these books is hammered into the reader\u2019s head, but simply becomes a delightful part of the storytelling, and both the reader blissfully unaware of vampires or the one obsessed with them will be informed by Raybourn\u2019s context and research.\u00a0 Even the undead will find A Ghastly Catastrophe<\/em> a wonderful read.\u00a0 —\u00a0Robin Agnew<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veronica Speedwell #10 Although she certainly owes a debt to Elizabeth Peters and her character Amelia Peabody, Deanna Raybourn has managed her own memorable creations in the amusing Veronica Speedwell and her intriguing partner, Stoker.\u00a0 Veronica is an intrepid explorer and sleuth in London in the late 1880s who specializes in the study of butterflies. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2438,189,757,10,1276,2439,758,1586],"class_list":["post-6954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-a-ghastly-catastrophe","tag-berkley","tag-deanna-raybourn","tag-historical","tag-robin-agnew","tag-vampires","tag-veronica-speedwell","tag-victorian-london"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6956,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954\/revisions\/6956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}