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.