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Fiction. Mystery. HTML: In New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Peters's eagerly anticipated Amelia Peabody adventure, the Emerson clan is a hairsbreadth away from unearthing the legendary site they've been searching for. But a sinister plot and a dark family secret stand in the way of their ultimate ambition â?? and threaten to change things forever. . . . Convinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Emerson has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights. But Emerson's trickery has backfired, and his insistent interest in the site has made his rivals all the more determined to keep the Emerson clan away. The family returns to Luxor and watches from the sidelines as Carter and Carnarvon "discover" King Tut's tomb. But before their own excavation can get underway, Emerson and his son, Ramses, find themselves lured into a trap by a strange group of villains demanding "Where is he?" The Emersons embark on a quest to uncover who "he" is and why "he" must be found, only to discover the answer is uncomfortably close to home. Now Amelia must find a way to protect her family â?? and perhaps even her would-be nemesis â?? from the forces that will stop at nothing to succeed in the nefarious plot that threatens the peace of the entire region. Filled with heart-stopping suspense, and Amelia Peabody's trademark wit and wisdom, Tomb of the Golden Bird is the latest thrilling installment from the beloved "Grand Dame of historical mystery" (Washington Po… (more)
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I kind of wish Ms. Peters would either wind up the Amelia
The year is 1922, and if you're familiar with Egyptology, you'll know that that's the year when King Tut's
The Emersons are eager to be in on the discovery and offer their help, but when Radcliffe accuses Carter and Carnarvon of stealing artifacts from the tomb, they ban him from the site.
Meanwhile, Sethos arrives in the grip of a malarial fever, with a coded message he says is putting his life in danger. Keeping him hidden is no easy matter, with all the journalists around for the opening of Tut's tomb, including Sethos's estranged wife. And the family, including their butler Gargery who's arrived from England, is suddenly (again) under constant threat of attack and abduction.
Ramses and David, who were in the intelligence service during the war (as was Sethos), use their contacts to try to discover who's behind the attacks and the message, and uncover an assassination plot, and David is torn between his loyalties to his English family and his Egyptian heritage.
Mostly, though, it's an adventurous visit with old friends. Amelia and Emerson are getting older, and now that Ramses and Nefret's twins are 5, the family that's been a working unit for so long is starting to break apart. Just like it does in real life, the impending independence of the younger generation is a matter for both pride and sadness. I have no idea if it's the case or not, but Tomb of the Golden Bird feels like an end to the series. Maybe I'm just affected because it's the last one in my TBR pile, but with everyone planning on going their own ways, it feels final. At any rate, if there is a next book, it'll be interesting to see who's the focus and how the separation is handled.
What did profoundly touch me was the closing
Alas, this is nothing but a "clips show" of old material (Sethos as rogue - we get it! David entangled in Egyptian independence - done! And, PLEASE, no more visions of Abdullah, family Xmas celebrations, councils of war, tea at Shepherd's or Kadija's green goop!) thrown together in hopes of suckering fans of the series into spending money. My advice: if you *have* to read this one, borrow it from the library. I know I won't be purchasing any more books in this series.
All the key characters are present and on fine form, even Gargery and David make it to Egypt. But for all of that this feels as though, chronologically at least, it might be the end of the series, as Ramses and Nefret’s family starts to grow up and Amelia and Emerson are, well, like Gargery, ageing.
A superb read.
I've been looking forward to this installment of the series for some time. I've always wondered how they would combine the real-life discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb with the fictional story of “the world's greatest archaeologist”, Radcliffe Emerson. I enjoyed discovering how Amelia manages to get in on the excitement of the discovery and how she and Emerson refuse to be thwarted by Carnavon and Carter. I really enjoyed seeing how the author slipped in the storyline of how Professor Emerson might have been responsible for letting loose the Mummy's curse that ends in the deaths of Carter and Carnavon, along with other members of the crew.
The series is getting older, as is our heroine, Amelia Peabody. It's not quite as exciting as it used to be but I always give an extra star when listening to the audio book version, narrated by the incomparable Barbara Rosenblat. She personifies Amelia to me, much as Jayne Entwhistle personifies Flavia de Luce. If you are a fan of the series, you should enjoy this one.
Of course, the Emerson family gets caught up not only in the excitement of the discovery, but in fighting crime and all kinds of intrigue as well.
This was a very satisfying addition to the series.
I
The Emersons are busy with problems of
There are a series of threats but not murders in this episode ruining the Emerson's murder-a-season record. The threats seem rather half-hearted and include kidnapping and then releasing the Emerson's butler among other sorts of nuisance threats.
One plot point concerns whether or not Sethos has really reformed and also deals with his relationship with his wife Margaret. Ramses isn't at all sure that Sethos's reformation is real since he could easily have arranged the threats without breaking his word to Amelia to leave the family alone.
I will miss the Peabody/Emersons. I wish that I could watch the grandchildren grow up past the age of six. I greatly enjoyed this series which was filled with interesting archaeological details and characters who will live forever in my memory.