Product Description

The fifth book in the Amelia Peabody series. A night watchman is found dead in the Mummy Room of the British Museum, a look of horror frozen on his face. Before Amelia can respond, a pair of dissolute aristocrats with a shady past appear in her life, together with supernatural curses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #346485 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 407 pages

Customer Reviews

Amelia Peabody and family tear through Victorian London
Another great book in the Amelia Peabody series. Its all set in London so makes a refreshing change from the other books, which are set in Egypt. Its all gas lit streets and fog. Very Sherlock Holmes. Rameses is growing to a frighteningly precocious child who is not afraid to enlist the help of the butler and the rest of the staff, much to the chargin of his mother, in his effort to save his parents from one scrape after another. This book has some parts that made me laugh out loud on the train, always embarrassing, and others that are really gripping. Unexpected twists and intrigues all the way along. Fantastic.

Parasols at the ready
Amelia Peabody has returned to London for the winter, only to be caught up in a sensational murder case reported by the victorian equivalent of tabloid journalists. Along the way, she is lumbered with her estranged brother's foul children, so there is a sub plot involving Ramses as well as the usual mad priest, mysterious death threats, evil criminals etc etc. London's seemier side provides a spooky background, but for me it doesn't quite hit the heights of the egyptian stories.

Fifth Book in the Series

Elizabeth Peters was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. She lives in a historic farmhouse in western Maryland.

The Amelia Peabody books may or may not be an acquired taste, personally I love them. They are set in Victorian times when there were still very strict rules of etiquette and polite behaviour was the norm. Although most of the books are set in Egypt, in the desert under very trying conditions and extremely hot weather the `English' way of life was still expected to be adhered to, sometimes with quite hilarious consequences.

Amelia Peabody is Elizabeth Peters' best loved and brilliant creation, a thoroughly Victorian feminist who takes the stuffy world of archaeology by storm with her no nonsense dress sense and forthright opinions.

A night watchman is found dead in the British Museum, in of all places the Egyptian Mummy Room. The watchman has a look of sheer terror etched upon his face. This immediately starts the British press talking of ancient Egyptian Curses set up to protect the long dead from the living. People even begin to ask the question, `can fear kill?' Amelia immediately takes on her practical attitude and discounts all such theories as stuff and nonsense. Husband Emerson and her son Ramses do everything in their power to ensure that Amelia does not become another victim of whoever perpetrated the crime and there are many twists and turns before the murderer can be brought to justice.