Night Train to Memphis - Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters has written an engaging tale of mystery and suspense with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

Vicky Bliss, PhD, is a heroine with an attitude. She unwillingly accepts an assignment to act for international security on a cruise ship catering to multi-millionaires. Her discomfort at having to supposedly fill in for another archeologist as a lecturer in medieval Egyptian art (not her field of expertise) is increased when she discovers her former beau on the arm of his new wife. Her assignment is essentially to identify, for the authorities, anyone she recognizes on the cruise who might be a threat to Egyptian antiquities. Of all the people on the cruise, she recognizes only one...her former beau, whom she knows to be a master thief.

Things, however, are not always as they seem and Vicky begins to untangle a web of intrigue and suspense while trying to keep her boss, Herr Schmidt, from becoming an innocent participant in the situation. In the end, the question is, how can she foil a plot to steal Egyptian antiquities?

An excellent read, full of twists and turns, with a few red herrings thrown in for good measure.