Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody, her dashing Egyptologist husband, Emerson, and their wild and precocious eight-year-old son, Ramses. The much-coveted burial chamber of the Black Pyramid in Dahshur is theirs for the digging. But there is a great evil in the wind that roils the hot sands sweeping through the bustling streets and marketplaces of Cairo. The brazen moonlight abduction of Ramses�and an expedition subsequently cursed by misfortune and death�have alerted Amelia to the likely presence of her arch nemesis, the Master Criminal, notorious looter of the living and the dead. But it is far more than ill-gotten riches that motivate the evil genius this time around. For now the most valuable and elusive prize of all is nearly in his grasp: the meddling lady archaeologist who has sworn to deliver him to justice... Amelia Peabody!.… (more)
User reviews
Previous volumes in this series have carried me along by dint of sheer wit and engaging character, but this one also got me fascinated with the plot in the way that a mystery novel is supposed to--goading me to read the last sixty-odd pages at a single sitting.
It's the archaeological season once more and Amelia, Emerson, and Ramses are headed to a coveted dig site at Dahshoor. Last season
I suppose the murder of Prince Kalenischeff counts as the mystery, but it feels rather incidental to the main plot, which is not the tightest in Peters's repertoire. For much of the story, the Emersons simply remain at the dig, theorize about the murderer, and scheme to get some privacy at night. Amelia spends some of her time rehabilitating a fallen Englishman, Donald Fraser, and hiding a lovely young heiress, Miss Enid Debenham, who is wanted for Kalenischeff's murder. The usual love story ensues.
Where the action really starts is at the very end, when Amelia is abducted by the M. C. and learns, to her horror, that he has fallen in love with her and hopes to win her heart! Sethos is an interesting character, but sadly underdeveloped. And now it seems he's left the arena forever. It's too bad; highly competent criminals are the most entertaining to pit your heroes against. Though Sethos's passion for Amelia does give the story a strange dimension. Maybe it's good not to explore that particular plotline too far, thrilling reading though it is. I knew about Sethos falling for Amelia, unfortunately; I listened to the fifth book first by accident, in which Amelia alludes to the events of this story.
I listened to this on audiobook. Barbara Rosenblat was born to voice this character and once again gives the story a fabulous narration. Because of Rosenblat, I will be enjoying the rest of the series on audiobook, notwithstanding all my print copies. She's that good.
Overall, this is a so-so addition to the series. The love story is predictable, the bulk of the story meanders along somewhat plotlessly until the racing finish, and the mystery isn't all that mysterious. But it's still told in Amelia's inimitable voice and there are some funny moments. Entertaining, but not a stand-out by any means.
Some nice character development of Ramses (the son) as he is now 8 years old and a more fully formed addition to the narrative. Although some of the
The plot is basic although at times a bit difficult to follow: why are the names of two main characters SO SIMILAR-and the other main character only peripherally mentioned until it becomes a MAJOR CHARACTER that is vital to the whole plot?!!
All in all a good read but probably more interesting to established fans of the series-gives the impression of a "bridge book" to set up the next few books and not really necessary to enjoy the books before or after.
Their work is hindered by a pair of twins (Ronald and Donald), the return of the master criminal
This mayhem stems (in part) from a spirit in white who is haunting the dig site. The local workers are growing convinced that the area is cursed, making it harder and harder to find reliable workers.
While I enjoyed Rosenblat's performance, in trying to sit down and write a coherent review of my re-read, I'm having a devil of a time remembering what happened. I keep remembering details from The Mummy Case, probably in light of it's near by location. Part of it too, is the Master Criminal's growing importance in this part of the series. He, after Ramses, is my least favorite character. He is too much like an Egypt based Moriarty — and I don't like Moriarty either!
In Lion in the Valley, the Emerson family heads to Egypt for a season spent excavating at Dahshoor. They acquired this coveted site after events from the previous novel saw them all imprisoned in the black pyramid at Dahshoor and young Ramses may or may not have helped the Director of Antiquities to a rich and exciting find. Even with such glorious pyramids, though, one could not think that Amelia Peabody Emerson would be so content as to ignore the danger from the Master Criminal, that fiend who runs a black-market antiquities ring. Those readers who were growing a bit annoyed at the constant speculation on such a character will be quite pleased with this novel, where considerable progress is made towards unmasking the devil, or at least learning more about his (her?) passions and methods.
The Emersons have a talent for "adopting" down-on-their-luck Englishmen (a role filled just as often by Englishwomen, though) and this holds true here. They run across a young man named Nemo (or such is the name he selects from himself) who is obviously a well-bred Englishman (or Scot) even if he is dirty, dressed as an Arab, and has clearly been smoking opium. After Nemo saves Ramses from potentially being abducted, Emerson insists that they take in this stray and assigns him the role of Ramses-caretaker (no one is much surprised that this post is never filled by one person for more than one book). Not to be outdone, Peabody has her own idea as to who should be taken under her wing this trip when she learns the identity of a young lady named Miss Enid Debenham, an heiress seen in the company of the scheming Kalenischeff. Of course, when Kalenischeff is found dead in her room and Miss Debenham is nowhere to be found, there is some question as to whether or not the lady can look after herself. Naturally, of course, there's plenty of romantic backstory to entangle "Nemo" and Enid and that all plays a role as the Emersons try to determine who killed Kalenischeff, who is behind the antiquities smuggling ring, and who seems to be sending Amelia little tokens of love...
Of primary importance to me in this particular volume was the fact that Ramses has mostly outgrown any speech defects that rendered his soliloquies quite irritating. Now the boy is merely tiresome, but his parents seem to share the same opinion as this reader and so they are frequently cutting the boy off... of course, this often has the obvious effect of silencing the astute young child when he's about to supply a crucial bit of information, thus leading to confusion and drama, but so it goes. The somewhat harder to swallow storyline involves the identity of the master criminal and his true passions... for even if we can adore Amelia Peabody, let's face it... she was initially described in the first book as a pretty solid spinster entirely out of fashion and unless love has totally transformed her, I'm finding it pretty hard that this mastermind has worshipped her from afar. Be that as it may, at least we do get to interact with this genius of crime and we get to see Emerson fume and fuss with jealousy as Amelia bumbles on, oblivious until it's all immediately in her face (or lap). Peters seems to have allowed herself to be a touch more romance-y in each novel, though it's not like there's anything graphic. Perhaps it's simply that she's a little freer with the jokes on this topic, as with a particularly funny exchange when Miss Debenham comments that she heard such strange noises in the desert during the night... all these cries and moans. It's rather quite cute to see Peters add in those small touches while, thankfully, refraining from totally veering into romance novel territory. As passionate as Peabody and Emerson might be, I rather prefer the pan off into the sunset technique as far as they're concerned.
Since I was a little disappointed with The Mummy Case, I was all the more pleased to see that Peters had produced quite a pleasant addition to her series with Lion in the Valley. By this point, most readers will have decided if they're jumping ship on the series or sticking it out and, unsurprisingly, I shall continue to read. The good thing, though, is the fact that these don't particularly require the reader to devour them with great speed, so I feel like I can stretch out my enjoyment to savor these books from this point on, dipping into my stash whenever a rainy day permits.
Amelia, her husband and son are back in Egypt for a dig. they
And I just felt an urge to read cornflake boxes, anything else, so I'm drawing a line under Amelia and declaring us done for the moment.
I found it very tongue in cheek and couldn't take it too seriously, but I found myself smiling at
Quite a good filler until something meatier comes along!!
Amelia, despite having the pyramids at Dashur to crawl around in, finds herself fascinated with the murder of a Cairo antiquities shop owner. As she investigates, she becomes caught
LOVE. Recommended!
Peabody, Emerson and the ever precocious Ramses are back in Egypt, set to work in Dashoor. But before they leave Cairo, a man has been found stabbed to death lying on the bed of an unmarried woman's room, a no-no in nineteenth century, but she has disappeared. Naturally
And we're off on a rollicking mystery adventure where Ramses gives his polysyllabic speeches and disappears whenever possible, young lovers appear, danger lurks and the mysterious Master Criminal is somehow behind most of the trouble. The second half of the book was much more fun than was the first half (3 stars for the first half, barely, 4 for the second half, so therefore the 3.5 stars rounded down rather than up.) While some things are fairly predictable, there are a few fun surprises.
And behind it all is the Master Criminal, Amelia and Emerson's archnemesis. This master of disguise is determined to press his suit with Amelia who has eyes for no one but Emerson.
This is filled with the usual humor of the series and has less archaeological detail than earlier volumes mainly because Amelia is too busy assisting young lovers and tracking down the Master Criminal to actually do any.
Fans of the series will enjoy Ramses' growing role in the stories and the strong relationship between Amelia and Emerson. Susan O'Malley did an excellent job with all the various voices.
And behind it all is the Master Criminal, Amelia and Emerson's archnemesis. This master of disguise is determined to press his suit with Amelia who has eyes for no one but Emerson.
This is filled with the usual humor of the series and has less archaeological detail than earlier volumes mainly because Amelia is too busy assisting young lovers and tracking down the Master Criminal to actually do any.
Fans of the series will enjoy Ramses' growing role in the stories and the strong relationship between Amelia and Emerson. Susan O'Malley did an excellent job with all the various voices.
And behind it all is the Master Criminal, Amelia and Emerson's archnemesis. This master of disguise is determined to press his suit with Amelia who has eyes for no one but Emerson.
This is filled with the usual humor of the series and has less archaeological detail than earlier volumes mainly because Amelia is too busy assisting young lovers and tracking down the Master Criminal to actually do any.
Fans of the series will enjoy Ramses' growing role in the stories and the strong relationship between Amelia and Emerson. Susan O'Malley did an excellent job with all the various voices.
3 Stars
Amelia Peabody and her husband, Radcliffe Emerson, and their precocious son, Ramses, become involved in another murder in Egypt when a noted con artist is found dead in a young English heiress's hotel room and she is nowhere to be found.
Series note: The plot in this book is
This is definitely one of the more farcical installments in the series. The twists and turns of the mystery are ridiculously obvious and could have been solved in five minutes if Peabody had allowed her son to complete a sentence. Annoying child characters are usually a no-no for me, but Ramses is rapidly growing on me. His inquisitive personality and comments on human nature are very insightful.
In terms of character development, there is a small change in tone in the relationship between Peabody and Emerson. To begin with, the references to their sex life are more overt, and it is intriguing to see Emerson experience episodes of jealousy when he is usually too immersed in his antiquities to notice. There are some particularly intense moments, especially during the scenes at the end.
The real highlight of these books is the focus on Egyptology and the subtle critique of British imperialism and superiority. The history, geography and archeological details are fascinating and add an element of realism to an otherwise silly story. Moreover, the tongue-in-cheek references to classic mystery tropes, such as the inept detective, the master criminal, and the comely heiress courted for her fortune, are also entertaining.
Overall, this book is entertaining despite the clichéd tropes and overexaggerated characterization.
This volume finds Amelia headed to an excavation site in Dahshoor with her husband Emerson and
Sethos shows up again, but this time it’s Amelia herself tat he’s after, and their encounter makes for laugh out loud listening.