The Painted Queen

Starred review from May 1, 2017
The long-running series by MWA Grand Master Peters (1927–2013) featuring forthright Amelia Peabody Emerson and her irascible archeologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, comes full circle with this energetic final novel completed by Hess, Peters’s friend and fellow mystery author. In 1912, the Emersons revisit Amarna, the setting of the first Peabody book, 1975’s Crocodile on the Sandbank; Egypt’s Service des Antiquités director Maspero is worried about the disappearance of German archeologist Morgenstern from the excavation there. Peabody soon locates Morgenstern in Cairo, but his erratic behavior and ties to forgers of a priceless likeness of famed queen Nefertiti disturb her. Efforts to locate the original artifact are complicated by attempts on Peabody’s life by men wearing monocles, an interlude with a melodramatic romance novelist, and the reappearances of the Emerson family’s nemesis, Sethos. Although fans may be a bit disappointed by some unresolved questions (such as Peters’s hints of a connection between the Peabody and Vicky Bliss series), the Emerson clan takes a fitting final bow as the curtain falls on a pioneering career. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency.

When Elizabeth Peters (Egyptologist Barbara Mertz) died in 2013, she left a partially finished manuscript. Thanks to mystery writer Joan Hess, who completed the manuscript, and the remarkable Barbara Rosenblat, fans can rest assured that the Peabody-Emerson clan is in more-than-capable hands. The family gathers in Cairo for the season and, as Amelia soaks in her bath, a man with a knife falls into her boudoir--dead! Rosenblat is sublime delivering Amelia's caustic observations, especially when husband Emerson flings himself bodily upon several possible assassins. Her "harumph" is priceless. Whether dealing with a mystery surrounding a bust of Nefertiti, avoiding "master criminal" Sethos, offering a refreshing tea break--with pastries and cucumber sandwiches--or dispatching an assortment of monocled villains, Rosenblat delivers a delicious blend of love and mayhem. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2017

When she died in 2013, the multi-award-winning Peters left much of the manuscript plus extensive notes for this 20th entry in the series starring Amelia Peabody and her archaeologist husband. Writing buddy Hess agreed to complete the story, which has the protagonists chasing after a stolen bust of Queen Nefertiti as Amelia dodges assassins.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017

Mystery surrounds the legendary Egyptian queen Nefertiti bust discovered in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. While the world may never know how the artifact ended up in Germany, we now understand the roles the great archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson and his equally eminent wife, Amelia Peabody, had in its discovery. Following the events detailed in The Falcon at the Portal, Amelia and her family are gearing up for another excavation season. No sooner do they check in to their Cairo hotel than a man tries to kill Amelia. While accustomed to danger, she and her husband must determine who is trying to get rid of them this time. After their son Ramses reports that someone tried to kill him, their adopted daughter Nefret figures out that the family of her former husband, Geoffrey Godwin, are seeking revenge for his death. When legendary author Peters died in 2013, she left behind a partially finished manuscript for this book. Her friend and fellow mystery writer Hess agreed to finish the story. Hess tries too hard to emulate Peter's style and, at times, the writing veers toward parody. VERDICT Despite a few flaws, devoted Amelia Peabody fans (this reviewer counts herself as one) will read this book with tears in their eyes as they bid farewell to these much-loved characters (and author). [See Prepub Alert, 1/30/17.]--Lynnanne Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017
The 19th installment of the adventures of an archaeological family facing a vendetta as they chase a real-life artifact.Life is never dull for Amelia Peabody in her marriage to professor Radcliffe Emerson, the greatest Egyptologist of the 19th century--and now the 20th. Even a bubble bath in Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo is anything but restful when a man bursts in on Amelia, utters "You....Murder!," and falls dead with a knife in his back. When Emerson rushes to his wife and searches the corpse's pocket, he finds a card with the name "Judas" written on it. Emerson also trips over a small carved wooden head of Akhenaton, the Heretic Pharaoh, whose capital city, Tell el-Amarna, is the next stop but one on the Emersons' itinerary. Reunited there with their son, Ramses, they learn that a man had tried to kill him, too, and that another target on Judas' hit list is the chief excavator of the Amarna site, Herr Morgenstern, who's been behaving oddly and taken himself off to Cairo. With the discovery and disappearance of a beautiful painted carving of Nefertiti comes the realization that the Emersons' foster daughter's late husband's five half brothers have sworn vengeance on her adoptive family. One brother was the Judas who was stabbed in the back; Guy (for Fawkes) dies in his attempt to blow up the Emersons; Cromwell's namesake is decapitated when he tries to kill Ramses. Subsequent murders, abductions, flash floods, camel-back races, and interventions by a supposed nemesis alternate with frequent breaks for tea, sandwiches, and whiskey as the Emersons wonder what fate's in store for them and their remaining assassins, Absalom and Flitworthy. Hess (Pride vs. Prejudice, 2015, etc.) undoubtedly had a daunting task in completing the final manuscript of the late Egyptologist Peters (A River in the Sky, 2010, etc.). Fans will cherish the legacy; newcomers will be forgiven for fidgeting through the busy plot and arch humor.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2017
Loyal fans of the Amelia Peabody mysteries will welcome this final episode, accurately reported by Peters' friend and fellow mystery writer Hess. The death of Peters (pen name of Barbara Mertz) in 2013 signaled the end of the much-loved 20-book series. Hess has done an excellent job of carrying the narrative forward in Peters' fast-paced, entertaining style, portraying the series' palpable sense of adventure and the affection and witty repartee between Egyptologist Peabody and her husband, Radcliffe Emerson. The Emersons are back in Amarna, Egypt, for the 191213 excavation season, where the famous bust of Nefertiti has been discovered by Ludwig Borchardt. Problems occur when the bust disappears, then reappears in duplicate. Amelia and Emerson are so distracted by the implications of this event that a gang of monocle-sporting killers seems a minor inconvenience. Everyone in the familiar Peabody-Emerson cast is present or accounted for, tying up loose ends with panache and optimism. Series devotees may choose to branch out with the exploits of Tasha Alexander's similarly clever Lady Emily Ashton.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)