An Impossible Imposter (Veronica Speedwell #7)

Rating: 5 ♥’s
Published: February 15, 2022
Genre: Mystery/Historical Fiction
Pages: 325

Description: 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.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well, Deanna Raybourn does it again! I had been eagerly anticipating this book since I finished the 6th because I am hooked on this series! I definitely was not disappointed in this one and in fact I need the 8th one like now because I need to know what is going to happen.

This book takes off where Veronica and Stoker are back from another of their adventures and of course, they can never not get involved in another mystery for long. I am still just shipping them so hard and so glad that they are together because I have wanted it from the beginning. This case is slightly different than the others because they are asking Veronica to come in and identify a friend she had thought to be dead. I liked that this was a different way for them to get involved, plus Stoker was all in because he got to stuff another animal carcass, a rare one this time. I really enjoy how in every book there is still a little bit more we learn about the somewhat mystery of Veronica and her heritage, I am hoping one day maybe something big happens when this series concludes.

The plot was well written and it flows smoothly. I was extremely delighted when not too far into the book a big twist that I did not see coming happened. I won’t give it away because it is a good one, I mean who doesn’t love a good twist that you don’t already see coming?! It is really nice that the author does a good deal of research and so you can feel the real history in the undertones of this story as you read. Even if you hadn’t read the rest of the series you would not be completely lost in the story which is nice.

The characters as always were great. The banter between Veronica and Stoker I just love, plus it just makes their relationship better. This one definitely had some harder times for their relationship and will be interesting to see how it plays out in the next book, but I have faith it will all right itself. The supporting characters are good as always, you learn some background about them which is nice because it makes you care about them more. It is nice that there is even some mystery of the characters that surround them so it is like a few smaller mysteries along with the bigger mystery that is being solved.

As always this book is 5 out of 5 for me. Truly, if you haven’t started this series please do yourself a favor and go pick up any of them and read. Plus the covers are to die for. I will be eagerly anticipating when I can get my hands on the next one.

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