In autumn 1921, with the world at peace, the Emersons are enjoying a busy period of excavation in Egypt. But their digging turns to detecting when they hear a tale of a man's mysterious death. The widow is convinced her husband was the victim of a curse, and implores the Emersons to return the small "deadly" statue that killed him to the tomb.
Autumn 1921. The Peabody-Emerson clan are enjoying a fruitful period of excavation in Egypt. But when they hear the alarming tale of a man's mysterious death their digging turns to detecting. His widow is convinced her husband was the victim of a curse and implores the Emersons to find and return the small 'deadly' statue that killed him to the tomb from which it was stolen -- before it claims another life. From bitter experience the Emersons know it would be a serious mistake to start chasing tomb robbers. But Amelia and family soon start to find the curse may be more real than ever imagined...
I really do think Elizabeth Peters - books are great entertainment.' Angela Rippon
The most potent female force to hit Egypt since Cleopatra! - Philadelphia Inquirer
If Indiana Jones were female, a wife and mother who lived in Victorian times, he would be Amelia Peabody. - Publishers Weekly
A writer so popular that the public library has to keep her books under lock and key. - Washington Post Book World
I can't wait for the next Peabody story... I really do think [Elizabeth Peters'] books are great entertainment.
A writer so popular that the public library has to keep her books under lock and key. - Washington Post Book World
Think Miss Marple with early feminist gloss crossed with Indiana Jones... accomplished entertainment.' - Guardian
Elizabeth Peters is a pen name of Barbara Mertz, who earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Over the course of her fifty-year career she wrote more than seventy mystery and suspense novels, and three nonfiction books on Egypt. She was the recipient of numerous writing awards, including grandmaster and lifetime achievement awards from the Mystery Writers of America, Malice Domestic, and Bouchercon. In 2012 she was given the first Amelia Peabody Award, created in her honor, at the Malice Domestic convention. She died in 2013, leaving a partially completed manuscript of The Painted Queen.