Night Train to Memphis (Vicky Bliss Series #5)

by Elizabeth Peters, Barbara Mertz

Overview

An assistant curator of Munich's National Museum, Vicky Bliss is no expert on Egypt, but she does have a Ph.D. in solving crimes. So when an intelligence agency offers her a luxury Nile cruise if she'll help solve a murder and stop a heist of Egyptian antiquities, all 5'11" of her takes the plunge. Vicky suspects the authorities really want her to lead them to her missing lover, the art thief and master of disguises she knows only as "Sir John Smythe." And right in the shadow of the Sphinx she spots him. . . with his new flame. Vicky is so furious at this romantic stab-in-the-back, not to mention the sudden arrival of her meddling boss, Herr Dr. Schmidt, that she may overlook a danger as old as the pharaohs and as unchanging. . . a criminal who hides behind a mask of charm while moving in for the kill.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446602488
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	12/28/1995
Series:	Vicky Bliss Series , #5
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Peters was born and brough up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1998. In 2003, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Malice Domestic Convention. She is also the author, as Barbara Mertz, of Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt and Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. She lives in western Maryland. Visit her website at: www.ameliapeabody.com.

Hometown:

A farm in rural Maryland

Date of Birth:

September 29, 1927

Place of Birth:

Canton, Illinois

Education:

M.A., Ph.D. in Egyptology, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1952

Website:

http://mpmbooks.com/

Table of Contents

Editorial Reviews

Comically mixing country music lyrics with Egyptology lore, this fifth Vicky Bliss tale (after Trojan Gold) focuses more on the Munich National Museum's assistant curator's love affair with a British art forger/thief than on suspense. Vicky poses as an Egyptian art expert on a cruise up the Nile in order to help the Munich police spot the leader of an art ring that is planning to rob the Cairo museum. Among those whom she suspects are Feisal, the native guide, a suspicious pair of men named Bright and Sweet, and, alas, her old lover and adversary, Sir John, who is on board with his mother and his new bride. The accomplished Peters's latest quirky, lighthearted novel sports some harrowing moments, as when Vicky, her eccentric boss, Herr Dr. Schmidt, and John attempt to escape from the villainous ring, but with its emphasis on Vicky's love life, the story remains essentially a spirited soap opera interspersed with guidebook descriptions. Author tour. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Using a location and subject familiar to readers of her historical fiction series featuring 19th-century archaeologist Amelia Peabody, Peters combines ancient wonders with modern calamity. Dr. Vicky Bliss (Borrower of the Night, Chivers North American Pr., 1992), who works for the National Museum in Munich, joins a luxurious Nile cruise in order to forestall an alleged plot to rob the Cairo Museum. The ship and its 30 passengers compare most favorably to other such microcosms, especially in view of Vicky's witty sarcasm, fevered conjecture, and stubborn bravery. Brisk adventure in exotic surroundings from a practiced hand; heartily endorsed.

Library Journal

Peters' fans will be delighted with her newest mystery. The talented, popular author offers a clever plot combined with an exotic setting, well-crafted writing, wryly funny humor, interesting factoids about Egyptian antiquities, and lively, attractive heroine Vicky Bliss, who can hold her own against the meanest meanies. Vicky, a curator at Munich's National Museum, is asked to go undercover on a cruise down the Nile. Her mission: to spot who among her fellow passengers might be the master criminal about to carry out a major theft of valuable antiquities. Vicky has a sneaking suspicion that the thief the police are after is the mysterious man she knows as John, who's perfectly capable of illegal activities and who's been both her sworn enemy and her sometime lover. When John shows up on the cruise and a crew member is murdered, Vicky begins to fear her suspicions were correct--but she doesn't have enough evidence to rule out the other passengers. This one is vintage Peters at her entertaining best--a top choice for all mystery collections.

Emily Melton