Borrower of the Night

A missing masterwork in wood, the last creation of a master carver who died in the violent tumult of sixteenth century Germany, may be hidden in the medieval castle in the town of Rothenburg. The prize has called to Vicky Bliss, drawing her and an arrogant male colleague into the forbidding citadel and its dark secrets. But the treasure hunt soon turns deadly. Here, where the blood of the long-forgotten stains ancient stones, Vicky must face two perilous possibilities: either a powerful supernatural evil inhabits the place... or someone frighteningly real is willing to kill for what Vicky is determined to find.
Vicky Bliss is an art historian and a college that finds a reference in a book that perhaps could lead to the discovery of a show more missing masterpiece by Tilman Riemenschneider, a very famous German sculptor.

Tony, Vicky's boyfriend and colleague, challenges her to see which of them can locate the missing treasure first. Their information leads them to visit Rothenberg, Germany, and an ancient castle. Several other people are also on the trail of the missing treasure, including Herr Dr. Schmidt and a wealthy American, whose last name I forgot but his first name is, George.

You can imagine how Vicky feels when she captures the attention of several admirers in the group...Vicky was in her glory. but the beautiful young countess that lives in the castle seems to have captured the interest of Vicki's Tony. The old castle is sinister and spooky with secret passages and a history of evil inhabitants.

As Vicky and her competitor's carry-on with their search, they soon realize that something is amiss...off...just wrong at Castle Drachenstein, and the root of the trouble lies in the distant past. Is the castle being haunted? If so, is it by the ghost of a former countess, or is there a less supernatural explanation for the danger Vicky finds herself in?

I’ve read and enjoyed the books in the Amelia Peabody series, and standalones by this author, so I was thought I'd give this series a try as well. Overall, I found it to be a fun read and a decent mystery. The emphasis wasn’t so much on the “whodunit” aspect of things; but rather, the story focuses on the suspense and danger brought out by the gothic setting. In that respect, it also reminded me of Mary Stewart’s novels, which I have also really enjoyed, but what really carried the story to a 5-star rating for me, was the archaeological aspect of the plot. Can you say, “Indiana Jones.”? I also liked Vicky, whose sassy comments and progressive views always seemed to stir up trouble. You have to remember that this was the 1970's. I didn’t always agree with her, but she was diffidently... amusing! Overall, I will be watching for and definitely picking up the sequels in this series. show less

Vicky Bliss is a historian who also happens to be a tall, pretty and very smart person. She also has decided opinions. When she and her boyfriend Tony discover clues to a potential lost work of art, they both decided to try to find it - separately, and with a strong sense of competition.

Their quest takes them to a German castle recently opened as a hotel and the various guests there. The innkeeper is the current owner of the castle, a lovely and delicate young woman named Irma. Her aunt and her aunt's companion are also resident in the castle. Among the other guests are a German doctor, an American adventurer, and a mysterious older man named Schmidt.

The story was very atmospheric. There was a strong sense of history as Vicky tries to show more learn more about the missing masterwork and the people involved with its disappearance. There were dusty tombs, secret passages, wandering ghosts and an animated suit of armor to add Gothic detail.

The story was first published in 1973 and, except for the potential value of the lost masterwork, didn't feel particularly dated. The number of smokers and lack of cell phones were the major clues that it wasn't a contemporary story.

I like Vicky's feminism and competence and enjoyed this mystery. show less

Elizabeth Peters is best known for her Amelia Peabody series of Egyptological thrillers, but the Vicky Bliss novels are well worth reading. This one embroils our art-historian heroine with the search for a missing medieval masterpiece, and some very nasty characters indeed. Nice use of art-historical detail, and a humorous tone, make these a pleasure to read.

Medieval historian Vicky Bliss goes in pursuit of a lost fabulous Renaissance art treasure - a shrine made by a master woodcarver. She is helped and hindered by a colleague, an unscrupulous collector, the Grafin and dowager Grafin of the family that last owned the shrine, a mysterious doctor and a jolly gent who looks like Santa Claus.

It’s a tongue-in-cheek romp, with all Elizabeth Peters’ style, and a fun read. Recommended.

Elizabeth Peters gives the Gothic novel a modern spin as Professor Vicky Bliss races against her academic colleague/rival/hopeful suitor, Tony, and a handful of suspicious characters, to find a lost Renaissance shrine. All of the characters are thrown together in a medieval German castle, complete with suits of armor, a resident ghost, a crypt, the ruins of a tower, and secret passages. It's a lot like the old Scooby-Doo cartoons I watched on Saturday mornings as a kid. Art and history lovers looking for some purely escapist reading will find it here.

in a sentence or two: Vicky Bliss is hot on the trail for what she hopes to be the missing Riemenschneider art piece. unfortunately, finding it in the seemingly haunted gothic castle might not be as easy as it seems...

Vicky is described in the opening chapters as quite the hottie. though, she does not consider this to be an asset in her life. she's tall, big (in the right places), blonde and blue-eyed. she's envious of those little sharp-featured dark haired lovelies in the world, but what can you do. she's smart, determined, and has quite a knack for adventure and mystery.

while talking with her on again/off again boy-toy Tony, she discovers what might be the clue to a missing art piece. unable to resist the temptation to spend her show more summer in Germany trying to discover its location, she makes plans to go unravel the secrets and find the sculpture hidden in Rothenburg. specifically, the Schloss Drachenstein.

while competing with Tony (who also wants to find it to prove his superiority to her in a romantic way) and George (the man who just has to have everything worth having), Vicky and pals discover that not all is as it should be at the Schloss. they are caught snooping - repeatedly - and no one even bats an eye. suspicous. between trying to find the missing sculpture, avoid what very well might be ghosts sliding around the castle at nighttime, attending seances at the Schloss owner's request, and unraveling the mysteries that lie in the castle - this is a pretty busy book. i never fancied myself as someone who would really like mystery/suspsense, but Peter's sucked me right in.

i absolutely adored Vicky's voice. she's clever, snarky, sarcastic, dead-pan, resourceful and independent. i have a feeling i will be meeting her again in the future (i seriously plan on reading more of her series). i'm pretty blown away this was written in 1973. it felt super modern.

fave quote: (hard to choose, because as noted, Vicky is pretty snarky and i really enjoyed that) "If there is anything worse than being a tall girl, it is being a tall smart girl" (1)

fix er up: the ending wasn't totally a surprise to me, but i don't think that ruined the overall appeal. the journey was the exciting part, not the conclusion. show less

This was a 3.5 star read for me. It was better than the last Elizabeth Peters I read but still had some weird feminist issues (trying to be feminist but not entirely succeeding). The mystery was fun and I always love how the supposed supernatural elements are played out. I thought I had read some Vicky Bliss novels before but this one didn't sound familiar so maybe it was before I was OCD about reading book 1's first. I would read more of this series.