Dive into a captivating mystery series centered around an art historian with a passion for medieval Europe. Her work at a prominent museum constantly pulls her into the dangerous world of art forgers and thieves. Amidst brilliant artists and cold-blooded killers, she navigates thrilling investigations that are often complicated by intrigue and a simmering romance with a notorious art thief.
A missing masterwork in wood, the last creation of a master carver who died in
the violent tumult of 16th-century Germany, may be hidden in the medieval
castle in the town of Rothenburg. The prize has called to Vicky Bliss, drawing
her and a male colleague into the forbidding citadel and its dark secrets. But
the treasure hunt soon turns deadly.
The note with the hieroglyphs was found in the pocket of a man lying dead in
an alley. The only other item of interest on him was a piece of jewellery, a
reproduction of the Charlemagne talisman, but so well done that Vicky Bliss
thought she was being shown the real thing. Vicky didn't know what it meant
yet.
More from Vicky Bliss - the new heroine from the creator of the bestselling Amelia Peabody series A picture is worth a thousand words - but the photograph art historian Vicky Bliss has just received gives rise to a thousand questions instead. A quick glance at the blood-stained envelope is all the proof she needs that something is horribly wrong. The photo itself is familiar: a woman adorned in the gold of Troy. Yet this isn't the famous photograph of Frau Schliemann - this photo is contemporary. And the gold, as Vicky and her fellow academics know - disappeared at the end of World War II. And now this circle of experts is gathered for a festive Bavarian Christmas - including a very determined killer.
An assistant curator of Munich's National Museum, Vicky Bliss is no expert on Egypt, but she does have a Ph.D. 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, Herr Dr. Schmidt, 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.
The heist of the century has taken place in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, and Vicky's on/off boyfriend, 'Sir John Smythe', is a prime suspect. Despite his insistence that he is innocent, even Vicky isn't 100 percent certain he has not fallen back into his old habits.
Jessica Tregarth's visit to her grandfather in England leads to unexpected danger as mysterious villains pursue her. With only an antique ring as a clue and the help of gothic novelist David Randall, she must unravel a centuries-old puzzle tied to Arthurian lore, risking her life for the truth and potential fortune.