Night Train to Memphis [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 434 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845298128
• ISBN-13: 978-1845298128
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,070,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ELIZABETH PETERS, whose New York Times best-selling novels are often set against historical backdrops, earned a Ph.D. in Egyptology at the University of Chicago. She also writes best-selling books under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels. She lives in Frederick, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Peters at her Best!!!, February 27, 2001

By 

S. Reeder "Big Fan" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Train to Memphis (Vicky Bliss Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

First of all: If this is your first Vicky Bliss stop reading this review right now. Go back and read the others in the series starting with "Street of Five Moons" (Borrower of the Night was actually first but it isn't nearly as good as the others. Maybe I think think this because I am in love with John though....) Follow "Street of Five Moons" with "Sillouette in Scarlet" and "Trojan Gold". After those, this book will be much more fun to read. After I read Trojan Gold I thought that Ms. Peter's books just couldn't get any better. "Night Train to Memphis" is absolutely amazing. I started it and couldn't put it down until I knew what happened. The characters all seemed like old friends and even after I read it again and again I would laugh out loud at the witty remarks made by John and Vicky. If the rest of the Bliss fans are suffering as much as I am from the authors failure to produce anymore Vicky Bliss mysteries ( I hope it isn't permanent) I thoroughly recommend "The Camelot Caper". I read it before "Night Train to Memphis" and didn't recognize it until it was pointed out to me, but this is John's first scam.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tale of the Egyptian Cowboy, January 12, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Night Train to Memphis (Audio Cassette)

While I'm a long term fan of Elizabeth Peters and her delightful stories of Amelia Peabody and her mad, archeological family, I have never thought to pick up one of the Vicky Bliss mysteries. Due, I think to cover blurbs that played up the romance and played down the mystery. Faced with a long trip I decided to try 'Night Train to Memphis' on audio tape. The tape failed at a crucial juncture, and I had to pick up a copy of the book in order to finish the novel, so this review actually covers both media.

Peters has a great affection for quirky, unforgettable lead women. They are always strong characters and frequently outdo their male counterparts. Vicky Bliss is no exception. She is an attractive woman, an American who has the intelligence and knowledge to hold a position at the National Museum at Munich working with Professor Anton Schimdt. The latter is one of those characters that combine inestimable knowledge with an almost irritating roly-poly cuteness. Vicky is considerably less saccharine and lacks his compulsive fascination with American country music, the lyrics of which haunt this novel.

Vicki is asked by German intelligence to take part in a fabulous cruise of the Nile River, posing as a lecturer in Egyptian history. They have information is that something unpleasant was due to happen on that cruise, but, do to the death of their agent, they have no idea what. Vicky's job was to help keep whatever it is from happening. When they refuse to accept her lack of knowledge of ancient Egypt as an excuse, Vicki gives in. A chance to escape Schmidt for a bit if nothing else.

To her chagrin, she finds that one of the passengers on the cruise is her lover, noted jewel thief John Smythe. She hadn't heard from him is six weeks, but she didn't expect him to turn up with a new wife, Mary, as well as Mary's mother. Also on board is a cast of characters, from Larry Blenkiron, the fabulously wealthy aficionado of Egyptian artifacts and lore, to Luisa Ferncliffe, a romance novel maven. Oh, lest I forget, Professor Schmidt shows up at the last moment.

What follows is comedy and seeming chaos. Vicky finds herself the object of falling flowerpots, missing attendants, and dead archeologists. While the pattern points to a master thief preparing to abscond with a fortune in Egyptian museum pieces almost anyone could fill the part or be working in aid of the plot. Vicky shows a knack for disastrous heroics that inevitably get herself and her two timing jewel thief into deadly fixes. By the time they have identified the guilty party most of Egypt is chasing them down the Nile.

Peter's really outdoes herself, coming up with one plot gimmick after another, each character more astounding than the next. Often, in a Peter's novel, we are lulled into thinking that chaos is the rule, but 'Night Train to Memphis' shows a sure hand at the helm. While I survived this being the first Vicky Bliss novel I would suggest that the reader consider reading something earlier in the series, a significant number of characters actually received their development in earlier novels, and that knowledge would greatly increase ones enjoyment.

A word on the audio tapes. Kathleen Turner does a wonderful job being the voice of Vicky Bliss, managing to bring out many nuances that one might miss in reading. While she does have a good ear for speech patterns and accents she overplays this slightly too much. I did not care at all for her Professor Schmidt, who comes over as an overly comic Dutch uncle. And John Smythe's voice is a bit more upper class than need be. On the other hand, few actresses or actors have the range of voice necessary to do justice to such a diverse set of characters. That Turner can come as close as she did is admirable.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vicky and John (and Schmidt) go to Egypt, June 9, 2004

By 

Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Train to Memphis (Hardcover)

and have many interesting adventures there.

In this 1994 adventure, the 5th, and unfortunately latest, in the Vicky Bliss series Dr. Vicky Bliss is approached to foil a planned robbery of Egyptian artifacts from the Cario museum. She is asked to pose as an expert on a Nile cruise, a cruise geared for amateur Egyptolists. Vicky protested her unsuitablity for this assignment until she realized that the suspected thief was none other than her sometime lover, the mysterious "Sir John Smythe".

Naturally Vicky does join the group, and does find her lover there - along with his mother and new bride. The adventure then takes off at a typical Peters breakneck pace, filled with bodies, false identities, lies, wild chases through the desert night, fantastic escapes and....well if you've read any of Peter's work you get the picture and if you haven't you should, just don't start with this one.

For fans of Peter's work there are many wonderful little treats in this one, John claims a name from his past as his own, hints at a long family connection to Egypt (could his real last name be Emerson?), Schmidt is developed as more than a cardboard comic character, a husband and wife Egyptologist team of the past century is mentioned and a 'writer of popular Egyptian mystery adventures' makes a cameo apprearance.

This is a particularly fun read, only marred by the fact that it is the last Vicky Bliss - so far - I refuse to give up hope!