Elizabeth Peters earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. During her fifty-year career, she wrote more than seventy novels and three nonfiction books on Egypt. She received numerous writing awards and, in 2012, was given the first Amelia Peabody Award, created in her honor. She died in 2013, leaving a partially completed manuscript of The Painted Queen.
One of the most famous archaeological finds in history, Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen in 1922, serves as the nexus for the 18th entry in the Amelia Peabody series. Peters's background in archaeology and Egyptology are showcased here as she interweaves fascinating historical facts about the great discovery within her fictional narrative. According to Amelia's slightly subjective version of events, Howard only finds the tomb because her beloved husband, Radcliffe Emerson, shows him where to dig. Radcliffe's disreputable half-brother, Sethos, then shows up at their front door, in disguise and seriously ill, carrying a coded message that some very nasty people want to retrieve. Thus begins a convoluted series of events as members of the Emerson clan combine their formidable talents to decode the message, defeat villains and would-be tomb robbers, and avoid the political machinations of several governments. The complexity of relationships in a large, multitalented family receives more of the author's attention than suspenseful actions, but the writing is as humorous, crisp, and marvelously descriptive as always. Barbara Rosenblat has narrated these mysteries from the beginning and can do no wrong. A necessary purchase for all libraries where other titles in the series are popular.-Barbara Rhodes, Northeast Texas Lib. Syst., Garland Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
The absorbing 18th entry in MWA Grand Master Peters's bestselling Amelia Peabody series (after 2005's The Serpent on the Crown) centers on one of the great real-life discoveries in Egyptology-the opening of Tutankhamon's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. Amelia's husband, Radcliffe Emerson (aka "the Father of Curses"), has been wooing Lord Carnavon and Howard Carter to let him excavate in the Valley of the Kings where they have digging rights, leading his competitors to think there must be something worth unearthing in the area. The eventual uncovering of King Tut's burial chamber and its magnificent contents attracts a host of museum curators, antiquities specialists, government officials, reporters and thieves. The arrival of Emerson's shady half-brother, Sethos, desperately ill and carrying a secret document, further complicates a plot involving attacks on the Emerson family, Middle East politics, conspiracies and love affairs. Once again Peters delivers an irresistible mix of archeology, action, humor and a mystery that only the redoubtable Amelia can solve. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
"[A] grand adventure."--Toronto Sun
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