Silhouette in Scarlet

by Elizabeth Peters Book 3 in the Vicky Bliss Mysteries series.

First published 1983

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4.3(666)

A red rose, a one-way ticket to Stockholm and a message in Latin convince Vicky that John Smythe is summoning her into another art mystery. The first clue is a valuable fifth-century chalice, but the criminals pursuing it are using the object to reach a still more important treasure.

The trail leads from museums and collectors to an excavation on a remote Scandinavian island. Vicky is captured and forced to assist the search, while Smythe’s uncertain loyalties make it impossible to know whether he has arranged the danger or is attempting to rescue her from rivals prepared to kill for the site’s contents.