Banned forever from the eastern end of the Valley of the Kings, eminent Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson's desperate attempt to regain digging rights backfires—and his dream of unearthing the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon is dashed. Now Emerson, his archaeologist wife, Amelia Peabody, and their family must watch from the sidelines as Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter "discover" the greatest Egyptian treasure of all time.

But the Emersons' own less impressive excavations are interrupted when father and son Ramses are lured into a trap by a strange group of villains ominously demanding answers to a question neither man comprehends. And it will fall to the ever-intrepid Amelia to protect her endangered family—and perhaps her nemesis as well—from a devastating truth hidden uncomfortably close to home . . . and from a nefarious plot that threatens the peace of the entire region.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 39 reviews)

18th entry in series another delight

Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters is the 18th, and possibly last, book in her fabulous Amelia Peabody series. The entire Emerson clan is back in Egypt for Howard Carter's discovery (with some guidance from Emerson of course) of Tutankhamon's tomb. Emerson peeves off Lord Carnavon, and the entire family is then banned from the most wondrous find in all of Egyptology's history. In the midst of this uproar, Sethos has returned with news of a possible conspiracy to bring down the shaky peace that has settled across the Middle East since the end of the Great War. The plot, as usual, is irrelevant. What matters is the snappy repartee, the always delightful Amelia sticking her nose into everyone's business, and of course a pair of star-crossed lovers. It's standard Peters' stuff, but she makes it look elegant and easy. I do hope this isn't the end!
August 29, 2008

adventurous visit with old friends

This is the 18th, and latest book in the Amelia Peabody series. It's really bittersweet being all caught up--I've loved reading them, but it's sad knowing I don't have any more waiting for me.

The year is 1922, and if you're familiar with Egyptology, you'll know that that's the year when King Tut's tomb was found. Unfortunately, credit for the discovery doesn't go to the Emersons--since Radcliffe had betrayed his interest, Howard Carter and his sponsor, Carnarvon, decided to remain in the Valley of the Kings for one more season, and Carter discovers the tomb.

The Emersons are eager to be in on the discovery and offer their help, but when Radcliffe accuses Carter and Carnarvon of stealing artifacts from the tomb, they ban him from the site.

Meanwhile, Sethos arrives in the grip of a malarial fever, with a coded message he says is putting his life in danger. Keeping him hidden is no easy matter, with all the journalists around for the opening of Tut's tomb, including Sethos's estranged wife. And the family, including their butler Gargery who's arrived from England, is suddenly (again) under constant threat of attack and abduction.

Ramses and David, who were in the intelligence service during the war (as was Sethos), use their contacts to try to discover who's behind the attacks and the message, and uncover an assassination plot, and David is torn between his loyalties to his English family and his Egyptian heritage.

Mostly, though, it's an adventurous visit with old friends. Amelia and Emerson are getting older, and now that Ramses and Nefret's twins are 5, the family that's been a working unit for so long is starting to break apart. Just like it does in real life, the impending independence of the younger generation is a matter for both pride and sadness. I have no idea if it's the case or not, but Tomb of the Golden Bird feels like an end to the series. Maybe I'm just affected because it's the last one in my TBR pile, but with everyone planning on going their own ways, it feels final. At any rate, if there is a next book, it'll be interesting to see who's the focus and how the separation is handled.
June 20, 2008

Elizabeth Peters Books

We haven't read this one yet (we are reading the books in chronological order), but we get a lot of enjoyment from the Amelia Peabody series. Well written and witty.
April 06, 2008

Farewell Amelia, Hello Tutankhamon

This is the last of Elizabeth Peter's series about dauntless Victorian/Edwardian/World War I Egyptologist/detective Amelia Peabody. According to reports she planned to end the series with the Peabody/Emerson clan getting involved in Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, and this is it.

This is not the strongest book in the series, for a number of reasons, Over the years since the series started with "Crocodile on the Sandbank" in 1975, Peters has added greatly to her cast of characters. Besides the original four of Amelia, her husband Emerson, his brother Walter, and Walter's wife Evelyn, there have been the Emersons' son Ramses, their ward and daughter-in-law Nefret, the Emerson brothers' half brother Sethos, their reis Abdullah, his grandson David and son Selim, the Emersons' niece Sennia, their American friend Cyrus Vandergelt (a gentle Theodore Davis), his wife Katherine and her son Bertie, and a whole host of English servants, Egyptian crew, Egyptolgists, etc etc.

In this book much of the time is spent just managing this unwieldy crowd.

Then there's the whole Tutankhamun discovery, which turns out to be due more to the Emersons than to Howard Carter, or at least that is what Amelia Peabody would have us believe. There is very little of the usual Peabody criminal intrigue. Instead we view the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb from the Peabody perspective, which is delightful.

It's sad to see the series end, but after all, Elizabeth Peters has given us 18 books since 1975, and back in 1964, under her real name of Barbara Mertz back she wrote a wonderful introduction to ancient Egypt called "Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs; the Story of Egyptology" (recently reissued in a second edition). She has been giving us pleasure in her many books for some time, and we will miss her.

December 24, 2007

oh dear!

This is the first Amelia Peabody mystery I have read and it will definitely be the last. What a bore! The character development seemed stifled, perhaps because of the very large number of them that filled space for no apparent reason. I found no suspense, no mystery, just a vague hope with each turning page that something might improve. Instead this is the first novel which I found myself constantly looking at my watch to see if I had endured enough. I suppose after 17 other stories, the rest of the series must be at least reasonable, but this one has convinced me not to attempt to find out.
July 19, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Serpent on the Crown
by Elizabeth Peters

Guardian of the Horizon (Amelia Peabody Mysteries)
by Elizabeth Peters

Children of the Storm
by Elizabeth Peters
by Barbara Rosenblat

The Golden One (Amelia Peabody Mystery)
by Elizabeth Peters

Lord of the Silent (Amelia Peabody, Book 13)
by Elizabeth Peters