THE GILT EXPRESS

When Detective Inspector Thomas Carver finally takes the long-overdue holiday his wife Elspeth has been pushing for - twelve days aboard the legendary Gilt Express, London to Venice - he promises no cases, no crime scenes, nothing but Champagne and scenery. That promise lasts less than a day.

Among the forty-six passengers sharing the train's gilded carriages: a senator traveling under a false name, fleeing federal fraud charges. A countess with thirty years of secrets buried beneath a hidden compartment's parquet floor. A young woman who is not who her companion claims she is. And a wealthy, watchful man whose blackmail will get him killed before the train reaches Burgundy.

When the body is found the next morning - poisoned, then finished with surgical precision - Thomas finds himself the only detective on a train hurtling through three countries with no jurisdiction, no backup, and a wife who turns out to be a considerably better investigator than either of them expected. As the true scope of the conspiracy unfolds - stolen Renaissance jewels, a six-decade smuggling network, and a buyer who has not personally appeared for an acquisition in fifteen years - Thomas and Elspeth must work together to unmask a killer before The Gilt Express reaches Venice, where an old, cultured collector is waiting for delivery of something considerably more dangerous than diamonds.

A novel of murder, marriage, and the particular romance of trains - where every fellow passenger is a stranger, and every stranger might be lying.