by Dick Francis (1988)
The Great Transcontinental Mystery Race is a rail junket that offers passengers the chance to race thoroughbreds and to solve mysteries. For Tor Kelsey, undercover agent for the British Jockey Club, this imaginary mayhem is about to become a nightmare of real murder.
Christopher Fowler
"Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the Arkangel races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out: what is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of?"--Publisher.
Adrianne Wood
Emily Highfill Grant is done with the rules of Boston society. She wants adventure, to see things she has never seen before and that's exactly what she gets when she sneaks onto a train bound for San Francisco and finds herself face-to-face with a handsome, bare-chested stranger, who is also her wealthy grandfather's nemesis. As stowaways go, the breathtaking woman who turns up in Lucien Delatou's private Pullman Palace car is most intriguing. Though she refuses to reveal more than her first name, Emily creates a lot of scintillating commotion on their cross country journey. But when Lucien discovers her true identity, the real trouble begins, and he faces a choice between the trailblazing railroad he invested everything in, and the feisty lover who captured his heart.
Alan Armstrong
Newbery Honor--winning author Alan Armstrong's latest book!Eleven-year-old Mark's anthropologist father has disappeared in the Gobi desert while tracing Marco Polo's ancient route from Venice to China. His mother decides they must go to Venice to petition the agency that sent Mark's father to send out a search party. Anxious about his father and upset about spending Christmas away from home, Mark gets a bad asthma attack in the middle of the night. That's when Doc Hornaday, an old friend of Mark's father, makes a house call, along with a massive black Tibetan mastiff called Boss. To distract Mark from his wheezing and to pass the long Venetian night, the Doc starts to spin for Mark the tale of Marco Polo. Doc describes Marco's travels and the boy finds himself falling under the spell of the story that has transfixed the world for centuries. Marco's journey bolsters Mark's courage and whets his appetite for risk and adventure, and for exposure to life in all its immense and fascinating variety.From the Hardcover edition.
Enid Blyton
Is there any treasure on Demon's Rock? Or is it just a myth? The Famous Five decide to explore the surrounding area. Then they find a gold coin--and the myth becomes all too real.