Silhouette in Scarlet

Elizabeth Peters writes art-historian adventure with a wit and lightness that makes Silhouette in Scarlet a genuine pleasure. Vicky Bliss follows a cryptic invitation to Stockholm, gets herself captured, and has to archaeologize her way out of a smuggling operation involving a fifth-century chalice. It's clever, funny, and atmospheric — Publishers Weekly called it 'full of suspense, marvelously evocative, and so funny you will laugh aloud,' and that holds up. The honest caveat is that by the third book in the series, the John Smythe romantic dynamic and the predictable villain reveals can feel like familiar territory. Suitable for older teens and adults; light on explicit content. A good comfort read for fans of witty romantic suspense.