A Grave Robbery: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery

In bestseller Raybourn’s whirlwind ninth historical adventure for Veronica Speedwell (after An Impossible Impostor), the lepidopterist teams up with taxidermist Stoker Templeton-Vane to identify a cadaver trapped in a wax figure. At the novel’s outset, the Earl of Rosemorran commissions Veronica and Stoker to install a waxwork figure of a “maiden captured in enchanted slumber” with a mechanical engine for the entertainment of his spoiled 11-year-old daughter. When the pair makes the first cut, they discover the figure is, in fact, an actual corpse entombed in wax. Shocked, they set out to identify the deceased, launching an investigation that takes them to various macabre corners of Victorian London, including a freak show featuring a spider woman, an underground railway through a chilling necropolis, and a group of researchers using “applied galvanics” to resurrect the dead. Vibrant secondary characters, a sea of plausible suspects, and a steadily growing body count make this a treat for series devotees and newcomers alike. Agent: Pam Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Assoc. (Mar.)