Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters

A tip has been given to the authorities that some valuable items are going to be stolen from Egypt. And that Vicky Bliss somehow knows the culprit.  So she's strong-armed into joining a luxury tour as a guest lecturer even though ancient Egypt is nowhere near her area of expertise. But to make matters a living nightmare, she's confronted with the man she loves... married to another woman. 

So now, she's dealing with claustrophobia, mayhem, jealousy... and maybe even murder.

Barbara Rosenblat is, as always, amazing and this series continues to delight.

Four stars

This book came out in 1994

Follows Trojan Gold

Followed by The Laughter of Dead Kings

Audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Trojan Gold by Elizabeth Peters

A mysterious photograph is sent to Vicky through the mail. With no name on the envelope, she is not certain who it came from. The envelope, removed by the overly efficient Gerta, may or may not have been covered in blood. Of course, Schmidt is not going to let this rest. He wants to know exactly who sent the letter and where the lost jewels depicted in the picture went to. Good it be that there is a lost stash of museum items stolen by the Nazis yet to be uncovered?

Vicky doesn't necessarily believe it to be so but she is willing to find out. And maybe that will bring her across the path of her on-again/off-again beau again. 

This book is better in the audio version. The narrator, Barbara Rosenblat, is one of my favorites and bumped it up an entire star. 

Four stars

This book came out in 1987

Follows Silhouette in Scarlet

Followed by Night Train to Memphis

In my Audible library

Opinions are my own

Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters

One of my favorite heroines is back again. Vicky Bliss is on the case once again as she's searching for a lost cache of Scandinavian treasure. One perfect rose (not, alas, a limousine for either she or Dorothy Parker) sends her off on a trip to the land of her ancestors. A trip where she encounters a lost love, a bad guy who does silhouettes, and an extended stay on a millionaire's island. 

Another great story and very enjoyable as an audiobook, not as good when I reread as a physical copy. Rosenblat makes the angst fun but it was a little overwrought in the written word. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1983

Follows Street of the Five Moons

Followed by Trojan Horse

Borrowed as an ebook from the CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters

 A great example of why I love this series even though it's ... 40 years old? Good Lord. So self-referential (you would never meet the villain at the end) and wry. Vicky Bliss is a fantabulous character. A blonde with a body like a centerfold, a mind like a steel trap, and the wit to keep you reading.
This time, there are replicas of famous items that are being put out into the world, including one from her very own university. So Vicky's off to Rome to figure out what's going on. Her adventures are fun and fascinating. As is John Smythe, the Englishman she meets along the way. 
The mystery is fairly clued with the reader able to guess the villain(s?) fairly easily. And all of the characters are painted so vividly including secondary characters like Herr Schmidt, the Italian principessa, Bruno, the Italian count as well as his son, his mother, and his mistress. Even Caesar the dog.

Three and a half stars

Follows Borrower of the Night

Followed by Silhouette in Scarlet

This book came out in 1978

Borrowed as an ebook from the CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters

Vicki Bliss is a historian who has just had the find of a lifetime fall into her lap, proof that a shrine built by Remenschneider (I listened to the book so spelling may be suspect) actually existed. A race between herself and her lover, Tony Lawrence, as well as treasure hunter George Nolan, takes them all to Germany in an old, supposedly haunted castle.
In the setting of the book, the castle is now a hotel run by the final countess (who married into the family) and the last surviving Drachenstein, Irma. The Grauphin, the old countess, is an iron-fisted besom while her niece is a “perfect heroine” including to the point of being a fainting flower. There is also at the castle a Doctor Blankenhagen who may or may not also be looking for the shrine. The countess also has a séance-loving friend and there is an older gentleman, Schmidt, who round out the party.
Peters infused the book with a sense of humor about the whole gothic atmosphere, at one point, Vicki says something along the lines of, “A secret passage? That was all we needed.” Love those bits of self-awareness.

Four stars

Follows The Camelot Caper

Followed by Street of the Five Moons

This book came out in 1973

Borrowed as an ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters

When the book opens, Jessica Tregarth is on the run. From whom? She doesn't know. But her bag was almost stolen (thank goodness for that policeman) and someone has searched it. Now there's someone following her. Luck provides her with the amenable people on the bus she stumbles on to. They drop her at the Blue Boar where she is supposed to meet up with a local, but instead is picked up by David Randall, gothic novelist. While he doesn't believe her story at first, being roughed up by two gentlemen soon changes his mind. Suddenly the two of them are on the run together, being chased (and chasing) the men who seem bent on getting the familial ring away from Jess.
I've read a couple of Peters's books lately and I am enjoying the fact that she mocks the very types of books that she is writing. She does it so well, having her heroine deride the characters in Gothic novels right before they themselves are kidnapped and tossed into a trunk or some other popular plot.

This book is loosely connected to the Vicky Bliss series introducing her eventual love interest to readers as "Cousin John." 

Three and a half stars

Followed by Borrower of the Night

This book came out in 1969

Borrowed as an audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own