Thursday, November 04, 2021

Perils on a Nile Cruise: Night Train to Memphis (Peters)

 


Elizabeth Peters. Night Train to Memphis (1994) Vicki Bliss (PH.D.) yields to entreaties to go undercover as an expert on Islamic Art in order to catch a thief. She thinks the thief is her occasional lover and opponent Sir John Smythe (one of his aliases). She’s wrong of course, but it takes a heap of complications, numerous villains, a psychopathic female, misunderstandings, hair’s-breadth escapes, etc, before she discovers and faces the truth, which is that she truly, truly loves him (obvious from the  beginning, so telling you that isn’t a spoiler).
     Fun, a nicely done mix of entertainment and education in Egyptian archaeology. Snappy writing, dialogue that moves the story along at a brisk pace, and of course enough soppy romance to satisfy fans of that genre. The dust cover shows an American diesel engine, not an Egyptian one. The train doesn’t actually figure except as a background means of getting a character to a crucial place and time. Above average of its type. **½

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Travels Across Canada: Stuart McLean's Welcome Home (1992)

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