Night Train to Memphis

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.)