Booklover Book Reviews

The Curse of the Pharaohs Synopsis

The sun rides high over the British Empire and the light still sparkles brightly in Amelia Peabody’s eye as she returns for her second adventure in archaeology and romantic mystery as recounted in her lively journal, The Curse of the Pharaohs.

It was Sir Henry’s intention to ensure that no tomb had been overlooked in the previous expedition. Scarcely had the men been at work for three days when their spades uncovered the first of a series of steps cut into the rock.

The Times gave the story a full column, on page three. The next dispatch to come to Luxor, however, rated front-page headlines. Sir Henry Baskerville was dead. He was found next morning stiff and stark in his bed. On his face was a look of ghastly horror. On his high brow, inscribed in what appeared to be dried blood, was a crudely drawn uraeus serpent, the symbol of the divine pharaoh.

Instead of digging up the treasures of a lost age, it appeared that Amelia and her friend Radcliffe were excavating a deadly curse. (Audible)

BOOK REVIEW

I simply adored the first title in Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody mystery series, Crocodile on the Sandbank. I am not normally one to gush, but I did about this book, or audiobook to be more precise – gave it 5 stars. I knew at once, this series would be one that I return to like an old friend.

With this second title in the series, The Curse of the Pharaohs, Elizabeth Peters did not disappoint. Nor did audiobook narrator Barbara Rosenblat, delivering a performance worthy of applause.

Elizabeth Peters leading lady and story narrator Amelia Peabody is fearless, feisty and funny. She is almost as dangerous with her umbrella as she is with her cunning mind and caustic wit.

Emerson’s response had taken her completely by surprise; and the astonishment with which she regarded me, as she tried to find some trace of the charms that made a man unwilling to be parted from me, was indeed delightful to behold.

Now married and the mother of a precocious young son affectionately nicknamed Ramses, her lioness instinct is high. She is however not one you would class as a natural mother, and so the observations she makes when describing her son are highly amusing. As are her attempts at fitting into Victorian country society. There is a wonderful list of “Peabodyisms” on the website dedicated to this enduring leading lady Amelia Peabody and the 19 books in the series (at the time of writing).

A Curse of the Pharaohs is a fitting sequel to Crocodile on the Sandbank, and once again a real treat to listen to in audio with Rosenblat narrating. I am not normally one for reading series from the beginning but this is one instance when I strongly recommend you do so.

BOOK RATING: The Story 4.5 / 5 ; The Writing 4.5 / 5

BOOK DETAILS: The Curse of the Pharoahs (Amazon); The Curse of the Pharaohs (B&N); The Curse of the Pharaohs (The Nile – Australia)

Genre: Action-Adventure, Mystery, Thriller, Crime-Detective, Romance, Audio, Historical

Author Information: Elizabeth Peters is one of the pseudonyms Barbara G Mertz writes under. As Elizabeth Peters, she has produced thirty seven mystery-suspense novels, many of them set in Egypt and the Middle East. Under her own name she is the author of Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs, A Popular history of Ancient Egypt and Red Land, Black Land, Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Under her pseudonym as Barbara Michaels she has written twenty nine novels of suspense.

Barbara G. Mertz studied at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, receiving an M.A. in 1950 and a Ph.D. in Egyptology in 1952. In 1950 she married Richard Mertz and had two children, Elizabeth and Peter. She was divorced in 1969. A past president of American Crime Writers League, she presently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of KMT, A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt. She is also a member of the Egypt Exploration Society and the James Henry Breasted Circle of the Oriental Institute. Dr. Mertz was awarded a D.H.L. from Hood College in 1989. The Mystery Writers of America awarded her the MWA Grandmaster in 1998.

- Checkout Elizabeth Peters official author website.

Other reviews of The Curse of the Pharaohs: Fashion Piranha ; All The Books I Can Read ; Historical Tapestry ; Things Mean A Lot

Just some of the other titles by Elizabeth Peters: The Mummy Case (#3), Lion in the Valley (#4), Deeds of the Disturber (#5), The Last Camel Died at Noon (#6), The Snake the Crocodile and the Dog (#7), A River in the Sky (#19), The Vicky Bliss Suspense Series