Vicky Bliss

The lethal stuff of legends For Jessica Tregarth, an unexpected invitation to visit her grandfather in England comes as a wonderful surprise, an opportunity to open doors to a family history that have always been closed to her. But her arrival is greeted by mysterious villains who pursue her through Cornwall, their motive and intentions unknown. Jessica's only clue is an antique heirloom she possesses, an ancient ring that bears the Tregarth family crest. Her only ally is handsome gothic novelist David Randall-her self-proclaimed protector-who appears seemingly out of nowhere to help her solve a five hundred-year-old puzzle. Something out of the cloudy mists of Arthurian lore has come back to plague a frightened American abroad, and a remarkable truth about a fabled king and a medieval treasure could ultimately make Jess Tregarth very rich-or very dead.

After Vicky Bliss stumbles over a clue to the existence of a hidden masterpiece by a late Gothic sculptor, she and her then-boyfriend, Tony, embark on a contest of will and wits to find the treasure.

It began as a game, a treasure hunt in an old German castle. For the beautiful and brilliant Vicky Bliss, it was also a challenge, a chance to bring an arrogant young man down a notch or two. And all things considered, it would have been no contest. The prize was a centuries-old shrine carved by Tilman Riemenschneider, probably Germany's greatest master of the late Gothic period. The place was the forbidding Schloss Drachenstein, where the stones were stained with ancient blood and the air reeked of evil. The problem was that someone was targeted, and the game was soon being played in deadly earnest. Vicky Bliss must face two equally perilous possibilities. Either a powerful supernatural evil inhabits this place-or someone frighteningly real is willing to kill for what Vicky is determined to find.

When a man is found murdered with a copy of the Charlemagne talisman, Vicky follows the trail of the genius who created the fake to the narrow streets of the antiquity markets in Rome.

A single crimson rose and a plane ticket to Stockholm neatly mailed in a mysterious package sound like the formula for a romantic weekend. And a note in the bottom of the box fuels Vicky's already insatiable curiosity-it is written in an archaic language even the capable Dr. Bliss cannot decipher. Is she embarking on a journey of romance or something else?

Adventure and romance enter Vicky Bliss' life in the form of a black-and-white photograph of a woman covered from head to toe in gold jewels. This "Trojan Gold" has an intriguing history, but it is the envelope that piques Vicky's curiosity. It is a grimy brown, with no return address, and it appears to have been soaked in blood.

While on an all-expenses-paid cruise down the Nile, Vicky takes on a new case involving a plot to rob the Egyptian museum. With Sir John Smythe-reformed jewel thief and Vicky's lover-the prime suspect, she prepares for shipboard romance and a dash of intrigue.

Another exciting tale following the adventures of art history professor Vicky Bliss-who keeps getting involved in international crime. An assistant curator of Munich's National Museum, Vicky Bliss is no expert on Egypt, but she does have a PhD in solving crimes. So when an intelligence agency offers her a luxury Nile cruise if she'll help solve a murder and stop a heist of Egyptian antiquities, all 5'11" of her takes the plunge. Vicky suspects the authorities really want her to lead them to her missing lover, the art thief and master of disguises she knows only as "Sir John Smythe." And right in the shadow of the Sphinx she spots him-with his new flame. Vicky is so furious at this romantic stab in the back, not to mention the sudden arrival of her meddling boss, that she may overlook a danger as old as the pharaohs and as unchanging ... a criminal who hides behind a mask of charm while moving in for the kill.

For the first time in more than a decade, New York Times bestselling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters brings Vicki Bliss back for one last investigation. But this time she'll be detecting in Amelia Peabody territory, searching for solutions in Egypt's mysterious Valley of the Kings. Who stole one of Egypt's most priceless treasures? The brazen crime bears all the earmarks of one Sir John Smythe, the international art thief who is, in fact, John Tregarth, the longtime significant other of Vicki Bliss. But John swears he's retired-not to mention innocent-and he vows to clear his name by hunting down the true criminal. Vicki's faith in John leaves her no choice but to set out for the Middle East, where dark days and myriad dangers await them and each uncovered clue seems to raise even more questions for the intrepid Vicki. And the stakes are elevated considerably because now it appears that murder most foul has been added to the equation.