A Treacherous Curse
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Date of Publication: January 16, 2018
Pages: 320
A Treacherous Curse is one of six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award. The other five are: The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, House Witness by Mike Lawson, Down to the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley , Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, and A Gambler's Jury by Victor Methos. This is the fifth of the six which I have reviewed so far.
Veronica Speedwell, the heroine of A Treacherous Curse, is a modern-day woman living in Victorian England. She is happily independent, a scientist when women were not scientists and confidently self-reliant. She manipulates men at will:
"He proceeded to lecture me for the next quarter of an hour, about what I cannot say, for I turned my attention to the contents of the packing crate. I had long since discovered upon my travels that men are largely the same no matter where one encounters them. And if one is prepared to let them discourse on their pet topics of conversation, one can generally get on with things quite handily without any interference."
These men she so casually manipulates include Stoker, her partner in scientific and criminal investigation. Speedwell and Stoker are hired by Lord Rosemoran to catalog his collection of "art, artifacts, zoological specimens, books, manuscripts, jewels, armor, and a thousand other things that defied description" with the intent of eventually opening a private museum. The two then become fascinated with the Tiverton Expedition to Egypt, led by Sir Leicester Tiverton, "an excitable baronet of middle years." This expedition had uncovered some incredible artifacts in unanticipated locations. However, the excavation director died on location under suspicious circumstances. Also, one of the expedition photographers, along with the most valuable artifact discovered by the expedition, is missing. There are rumblings of a curse on the expedition.
Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of the Special Branch hires Veronica and Stoker to find out what they can about the Tiverton Expedition in general and the missing photographer in particular. What follows is a cat and mouse game of puzzling clues and misdirection. The book has exciting twists of plot and a tumultuous ending.
The setting of Victorian England is a major plus for this novel and the writing is strong throughout and spectacular in spots:
"If I am honest, the space was narrow enough to cause my chest to tighten uncomfortable. The passage itself was not so small as to constrict me, but the feeling of imperfect liberty was alarming. I had little experience of caves - butterfly hunting, of necessity, takes place in meadows - but I was not certain a familiarity with enclosed spaces would help. Only resolve and discipline would carry the day, I reflected."
A Treacherous Curse was the one novel of the six which I though I would enjoy the least, but it was great. I read it quickly and would recommend it highly.
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