The falcon at the portal: an Amelia Peabody mystery

No one can say Peters sets an easy task for herself in this eleventh installment of her series featuring archaeologist-cum-detective Amelia Peabody. The plot elements include stolen and forged artifacts, treacherous defamations of character, a murder, a love affair gone disastrously wrong, and if that isn't quite enough, the effect of the rising nationalist movement in 1911 Egypt on Amelia's family. Yet, with her patented skill and attention to detail after fascinating detail, Peters pulls it off with the aplomb of, well . . . Amelia Peabody. A new digging season is underway in Egypt, but it has begun under a cloud for the young Egyptian archaeologist who has recently married Amelia's niece and is now being accused of selling forged antiquities. While Amelia's son, Ramses, puts himself into all sorts of danger to divine the truth, he also struggles to keep his feelings for his adopted sister, Nefret, under control. The focus here is on personal and family relations, but there's more than enough crime and archaeology to keep series fans happy. Details of the dig hold attention as always, but it's the way Peters mines the previous books for personal history that makes this adventure such a standout. Especially intriguing is the way Peabody's treacherous nephew Percy is brought to the forefront. The ramifications of his actions set up what will surely be the next book, which readers will await with justifiable anticipation. --Ilene Cooper

Fake artifacts, dead bodies, and a mysterious child demand Amelia Peabody's attention in her latest. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Professor and Amelia Emerson (The Ape Who Guards the Balance, 1999, etc.) are once again in Egypt, this time for the winter season of 1911, accompanied by son Ramses and adopted daughter Nefret. Amelia is busy with the wedding of her niece Lia to David, grandson of the Emersons' late, dearly loved steward Abdullah, who was rumored to possess a cache of fine antiquities. Now, it seems, scarabs (possibly fake) and other objects from that cache are in circulation, and David is rumored to be involved. He and Lia set off on their honeymoon as their friends Jack and Maude Reynolds arrive at the colony. Maude promptly falls in love with Ramses, pursuing him at every turn. Work has finally begun on the project: exploration of the Pyramid at Zawaiet el'Aryan and the Professor's focus for the season. Nefret, meanwhile, has married the Reynolds's friend Geoffrey Godwin. Already at the Pyramid there have been several frightening incidents, quickly climaxed by the death of Maude Reynolds. All this is but the beginning of a series of plot zigs and zags interspersed with lengthy domestic detail, rumors of drug dealing and rising nationalism, everything leading to a melodramatic and violent denouement that sheds little light on an ever more muddled story. Well-realized time and place; interesting, lively characters; and incomprehensible plot. ($150,000 ad/promo; author tour)

/*Starred Review*/ No one can say Peters sets an easy task for herself in this eleventh installment of her series featuring archaeologist-cum-detective Amelia Peabody. The plot elements include stolen and forged artifacts, treacherous defamations of character, a murder, a love affair gone disastrously wrong, and if that isn't quite enough, the effect of the rising nationalist movement in 1911 Egypt on Amelia's family. Yet, with her patented skill and attention to detail after fascinating detail, Peters pulls it off with the aplomb of, well . . . Amelia Peabody. A new digging season is underway in Egypt, but it has begun under a cloud for the young Egyptian archaeologist who has recently married Amelia's niece and is now being accused of selling forged antiquities. While Amelia's son, Ramses, puts himself into all sorts of danger to divine the truth, he also struggles to keep his feelings for his adopted sister, Nefret, under control. The focus here is on personal and family relations, but there's more than enough crime and archaeology to keep series fans happy. Details of the dig hold attention as always, but it's the way Peters mines the previous books for personal history that makes this adventure such a standout. Especially intriguing is the way Peabody's treacherous nephew Percy is brought to the forefront. The ramifications of his actions set up what will surely be the next book, which readers will await with justifiable anticipation. ((Reviewed April 15, 1999)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

Fake artifacts, dead bodies, and a mysterious child demand Amelia Peabody's attention in her latest. Copyright 1999 Library Journal Reviews