Drawing on personal experiences gained while travelling on the American Orient Express, author Phyllis Humphrey invents a romance set within an intrigue set within an adventure.

Haley Parsons, a school teacher on her first real vacation in years, boards the beautiful and luxurious American Orient Express for a week-long train excursion - dubbed the Antebellum South - from New Orleans to Washington D.C. But then her jewrlry begins to disappear and she finds herself an unwitting and unwilling player in a kidnapping and robbery attempt. The culprit is evidently aboard the train, but is he (or she) a member of the crew? Or a passenger? Or a stowaway? Jonathon Shafer, Haley's handsome, newfound love interest, is involved too. But who is he, really? And what part will be play in all this?