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Friday, August 09, 2013

Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters

Night Train to Memphis (a Vicky Bliss mystery) did not appeal to me.  I did enjoy Peters' Jacqueline Kirby mystery that I recently read, so I was disappointed.  

Book Description:  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.  (from Publishers' Weekly)

The characters all seemed so superficial that I couldn't care much for them.  Nor did the plot really engage me.

The book has 4.5 stars on Amazon, so my opinion may not be worth much.  

NetGalley

Mystery.  Republication Aug.  2013.  Print version:  368 pages.
  • ISBN-10: 0446602485

3 comments:

  1. Aw, shame. I love Night Train to Memphis, although I know I am biased by the fact that the author did a joke blurb for it under one of her other pseudonyms.

    You've read the other Vicky Bliss books first, right?

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  2. No, maybe that is part of the problem. But I loved the character of Jacqueline Kirby, another of Peters' series.

    Maybe I should try one at the beginning of the series.

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  3. Yeah, I think Night Train to Memphis is much more fun if you're already familiar with the characters.

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