The Orient Express (Timeless Victorian Collection Book 3)

Elizabeth Johns, Annette Lyon,
Nancy Campbell
Genre: 
Historical

This novella collection includes three different trips on the famed Orient Express through Victorian Europe and beyond! First, orphaned heiress Kate Worthington is traveling from India to England with the intent to call off a childhood arranged marriage when she meets a handsome stranger who is not as he appears. Next, private investigator Grace Thomas is on vacation when and uses her detective skills to profile a fellow traveler.  She believes she has him figured out but soon learns that there is more to him than initially meets the eye.  Finally, Emily Grant is desperate to get a ticket to rescue her kidnapped brother from a gang of criminals. When she is unable to get a ticket, a handsome man claiming to be a police detective claims she is his wife and promises to help rescue her brother, so long as she keeps up the ruse.

These three witty and self-sufficient women are an absolute delight to read.  Well matched with true heroes, the characters play off one another in stories that immediately draw the reader in. The first story is an old-fashioned Victorian romance that may be familiar to readers of the genre but is still fresh and delightful. The pace slows in the second tale as most of the action takes place in the minds of two well-matched intellectuals as they try to best one another.  Finally, the plot of the third story is as fast as the train going down the tracks.  As this book pulls into the station, one will be wishing there was more to this ride on the Orient Express! 

Elissa Blabac