Seeing a Large Cat

June 30, 1997
It's 1903, and irrepressible archeologist Amelia Peabody, returning with her extended family in their charming ninth adventure (after The Hippopotamus Pool), is in Cairo, headed for the Valley of the Kings. Her husband, Emerson, receives an anonymous note telling him to stay away from tomb Twenty A. Digging there, the group discovers the mummified body of the wife of English archeology patron Colonel Bellingham who was rumored to have disappeared five years earlier with a lover, leaving behind the Colonel and his then teenage daughter, Dolly. Close examination of the corpse reveals that the woman was murdered. Since the Colonel already believes that Dolly's life is in danger, all agree that the young woman needs protection. Unruffled, Dolly keeps trying to attach herself to Amelia's teenage son, Ramses, who is intrigued by a man who might have been the dead woman's lover and who definitely attacked him while he escorted Dolly in a Cairo public garden. Meanwhile, Ramses' former tutor asks for help with her husband, who has come under the influence of a seer and now believes that the spirit of an ancient Egyptian princess wants him to find her tomb. With characteristic aplomb, Amelia straightens everything out and finds the killer. In the process, she puts off observing that her son has grown to be a handsome young man, that his Egyptian friend, David, is a quiet potential rival and that few have overlooked the beauty and intelligence of her ward, Nefret. Peters's fans will relish this latest adventure that explores mysteries of the heart as well as murder.

Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson; her husband/scholar, Radcliffe Emerson, and son, Ramses, have quite a loyal following--among readers of their escapades and in Egypt, as they ferret out impostors and criminals, as well as proceed with their archaeological excavations. Author Peters's Ph.D. in Egyptology provides a detail-rich setting of turn-of-the-century archaeology in the Valley of the Kings--in this episode the Emersons dig next door to Howard Carter's yet undiscovered tomb of Tutankhamen. The eccentricities of the Emerson family are lavishly and deliciously presented by narrator Barbara Rosenblat. After nine unabridged recordings Rosenblat has an astute sense of each character, weaving caricature with suspense and wit. She delights listeners with the portraits while never allowing them to impede the suspense so carefully woven through the story. Amelia and her inscrutable, unpredictable and almost-grown son, Ramses, become partners in solving this mystery involving an American financier, a Southern belle, a spiritualist and a very un-Egyptian mummy at their new dig. There are ample opportunities for Rosenblat's talents. Her performance is a pharaoh's treasure. R.F.W. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine