Night Train to Memphis

ELIZABETH PETERS was born and brought up in Illinois. She is a prolific and successful novelist with over fifty novels to her credit and is internationally renowned for her mystery stories. Mrs Peters lives in a historic farmhouse in Frederick, Maryland, with six cats and one dog.

Praise for Elizabeth Peters

‘A writer so popular that the library has to keep her books under lock and key.’

Washington Post Book World

‘Elizabeth Peters has always known how to romance us.’

New York Times Book Review

‘I really do think Elizabeth Peters’ books are great entertainment.’

Angela Rippon

‘The perfect recipe for splendid entertainment!’

Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian

Also by Elizabeth Peters

The Amelia Peabody

murder mystery series:

(Titles listed in order)

Crocodile on the Sandbank

The Curse of the Pharaohs

The Mummy Case

Lion in the Valley

The Deeds of the Disturber

The Last Camel Died at Noon

The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog

The Hippopotamus Pool

Seeing a Large Cat

The Ape Who Guards the Balance

The Falcon at the Portal

Thunder in the Sky

Lord of the Silent

The Golden One

Children of the Storm

Guardian of the Horizon

The Serpent on the Crown

Tomb of the Golden Bird

The Vicky Bliss

murder mystery series:

(Titles listed in order)

Borrower of the Night

Street of the Five Moons

Silhouette in Scarlet

Trojan Gold

Night Train to Memphis

Constable & Robinson Ltd

3 The Lanchesters

162 Fulham Palace Road

London W6 9ER

www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the USA by Warner Books Inc., 1995

This UK paperback edition published by Robinson,

an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2008

Copyright © Elizabeth Peters, 1995, 2008

All rights reserved.

For Sharyn McCrumb

with love and thanks

Acknowledgments

AT THE RISK of sounding like a giddy young first-published author who thanks everybody except the electrician, I must acknowledge the assistance of many friends and friendly experts in writing this book. I couldn't have got myself or Vicky to Amarna without the help of Dennis Forbes, editorial director of K. M. T. (A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt), and that journal’s special projects editor, George B. Johnson. They were mines of information and the most congenial of fellow-travellers. Kent Weeks of the American University in Cairo good-naturedly informed me that I couldn't possibly get Vicky away from Amarna via the route I had proposed, and suggested an alternative. Peter Dorman, director of the Oriental Institute’s Epigraphic Survey, and his wonderful crew at Chicago House fed me, instructed me, entertained me, and dragged me up and down the cliff of the West Bank searching for an imaginary tomb. Practically everybody connected with the American Research Council in Egypt amiably endured my pressing inquiries and pervasive presence: Terry Walz, executive director; Mark Easton, Cairo director, and Mark’s associate Barbara Fudge and Amira Khattab. To all of them, my affectionate thanks.

The basic inspiration for the book came from an earlier trip to Egypt and the two friends who accompanied me on a Nile cruise. One couldn’t ask for more delightful companions than Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, and there is no truth whatever to the rumour that I stole my plot from Aaron. I tried, but he was too clever for me.

The title of the book originated while I was meeting with a group of fellow mystery writers. This group