An Impossible Imposter Review (Veronica Speedwell, #7)

Hello, all!

It's that time of year again, folks. Time for me to crow from the rooftops my love for the Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn. Every new installment of this series solidifies the fact that it's my favorite, and I'm so happy I was able to get an early copy of An Impossible Imposter from the publisher, so massive thank you to them!

Pub Date: 2-15-22
Adult - Historical Mystery

Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker have just solved another mystery and are looking forward to some downtime. The pair have been on non-stop adventures ever since they met, mostly involving being shot at, abducted, or nearly drowned, and are just hoping to get back to their actual job of cataloging the vast array of items collected by their employer. But unfortunately, Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of the Special Branch police force, has different plans. He summons Veronica and Stoker to assist with a personal matter involving his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway, and her brother Jonathan, who returned to the family home after years of being thought dead from a volcano eruption. 

Sir Hugo knows that Veronica has worked with Jonathan in the past, so off Veronica and Stoker go to Hathaway Hall to determine whether or not an imposter is in the mix. Is this Veronica's old friend? Or is it all a conman's ruse to gain possession of the family's famed jewels? When they arrive, they find a man who closely resembles Jonathan with no apparent memory. But Veronica knows exactly who he is, and she'll have to decide if outing him is worth bearing the secrets she's kept buried for so long.

This one did feel different from all the past books, but I enjoyed it a lot. It felt much lighter on the mystery and more focused on the personal relationships between the characters. Raybourn drops a bombshell about Veronica's past, and I loved getting a glimpse into her life before becoming the intrepid sleuth we know and love. However, it did leave the relationship between her and Stoker up in the air, and now I'm stressed at having to wait a whole year to find out what's going to happen. (If anything happens to those two, I will riot.) Aside from the characters, I thought the mystery itself was fun. My main issue with the last book was that I felt they were starting to get a little stale, and despite this one not being as prominent, it still kept me on my toes with all the twists and moving parts. It almost felt like a mystery within a mystery, and I was entertained the entire time. One of my favorite parts of these books is seeing what sort of wild situation Veronica and Stoker find themselves in because it always leads to hilariously witty quips, and this one was no exception. It continues to be a series that I harass everyone to read because it's just so good.

Rating: 4/5