Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile (1937)

This is the 15th book in the Hercule Poirot mysteries and the second book featuring Colonel Race. It's one of my favourite of Christie's mysteries and one of the saddest.

The very poor Simon Doyle meets the equally poor Jacqueline de Bellefort, they fall passionately in love, get engaged and Jackie introduces him to her very wealthy best friend Linnet Ridgeway - who promptly steals Simon away.

Enter Egypt, three months later, on a cruise up the Nile. The newly wed Simon and Linnet are on their unhappy honeymoon as they're pursued by a vengeful Jackie. Poirot, also on the cruise, watches the drama uneasily as he suspects things are not quite what they seem. With Linnet's murder, the theft of pearls, the appearance of Colonel Race on the trail of a foreign agent, and far too many suspects who wanted Linnet dead - Poirot finds a very confusing case that taxes his little grey cells.

I'm always saddened by Linnet's death. She was spoiled and used to getting her own way, but she was only 20 years old and to kill someone so young for money is just so meaningless. Money is an imaginary concept, without worth. Linnet shouldn't have been murdered for it, especially not with the justification that she had betrayed a friend and stolen her fiance as the slim reason behind it all. People mature, they grow out of their feckless youth. Linnet would never have the chance.

I'm still quite fond of Colonel Race. He doesn't have Poirot's skill at puzzling out the truth, but he's such a comforting character. I've liked watching him develop through Christie's novels.

Elizabeth Peters - Thunder in the Sky (2000)

This is book 12 in the Amelia Peabody series.

It's 1914 and the Emersons are spending another dig season in Egypt, but their archaeological yearnings take a backseat to World War 1. Ramses, opposed to war, is collecting white feathers from the British community. David is interned in India and Nefret is foolishly playing with their newest enemy, Percy. Aside from the Emerson-family-theatrics is the civil unrest in Egypt as an uprising looms in Cairo, and the influx of soldiers, training for trench warfare and protecting the Suez Canal.

The Emersons work well together in this book, apart from Nefret, whom they still don't seem to entirely trust. Not surprising considering how prone she is to impulsiveness. Which is one of the main reasons Percy is now their enemy - Nefret betrayed Ramses' secret in a fit of rage to Percy. But, alls well that ends well - sort of. I'm happy Sethos is back and I absolutely do not believe the ending - it's just not possible! I really enjoyed this episode in the Emerson-drama. Finally the characters are meshing together and becoming that indomitable team that they just feel like they should be.

Elizabeth Peters - The Falcon at the Portal (1999)

This is book 11 in the Amelia Peabody series.

The Emersons are in 1911 Egypt, excavating at Zawyet el'Aryan. It's more like an English cemetary with lots of little tombs and they don't expect to find much there.

David has recently married Lia and they're off in Europe on their honeymoon. Whilst he's absent someone is pretending to be him to sell antiquities supposedly belonging to his late grandfather Abdullah.

Naturally the Emersons all run off searching in different directions for the forger, without consulting each other. Initially they get in each others way until they realise they're better working together.

They have a new nemesis, Amelia's nephew Percy and he brings darker troubles for the family than they've ever faced before. It's a much somber book. Usually the troubles are deep, but obviously surmountable. Yet this book just made me feel sad and overwhelmed.

I'm really starting to like Ramses and Nefret again. They have matured and are less like arrogant idiots. The whole family is more cohesive and open with each other. They work great as a team. Yet, I find Nefret's marriage impossible to believe. It's probably the feminist in me, but I just cannot comprehend how a woman could be that stupid or petty. Nefret almost threw her life away without a good reason. I know the character is impulsive, but that is taking it all a bit far. I do wonder sometimes what kind of people Peters knew that put these characteristics in her mind.

As ominous as this book felt, I did like it, even though the ending had me raging. I'm really saddened that Peters is dead, I feel like something bright has been lost from the world and there is no-one gifted enough these days to take her place.

Elizabeth Peters - The Ape Who Guards The Balance (1998)

This is book 10 in the Amelia Peabody series. The Emersons are initially in 1907 England where Amelia is fighting the suffragette battle for equality and almost getting kidnapped in the process. Naturally her husband whisks them all off to Egypt, a location he considers much safer for his family - he's obviously learned nothing from the 9 preceding books.

Ramses is arrogant and annoying. Nefret continues to flirt with all and sundry. David is a doormat - sad, considering how stubborn and strong he began as. The trio find a papyrus and try to hide it from their parents, even though it puts all of them in danger. They insist they're adults, and being in their early 20s they are, but they continue to act like immature and foolish teenagers. By the end of the book they're doing better at being less secretive with each other, but not enough to keep themselves out of danger.

I was so happy to have Sethos back, but then Peters rudely took him away again in the first few chapters. I think that it soured the book for me. This is honestly a good book, a really fun book in the series but... I just really like Sethos, it's my romantic flaw.

Elizabeth Peters - Seeing a Large Cat (1997)

This is the ninth book in the Amelia Peabody series. It is 1903/4 excavation season and the Emerson clan are back in Egypt and living in their house outside Luxor, close to the Valley of the Kings. There are a few years between this book and the last, with a lot of changes inbetween. Emerson is making a survery of all the forgotten tombs, something everyone is finding very boring after locating a Royal Tomb in 1900. Ramses is suddenly all grown up and has spent the last six months with the Bedouins, away from his parents and learning many things that seem to have changed his personality almost completely. Nefret is now a young lady studying medicine and David is a young man who is English in every way except that he is Egyptian. Saddest of all is the death of the cat Bastet, Ramses childhood friend and companion.

This book was a bit of a shock. I didn't expect Peters to jump forward through so many years and to downplay Amelia and Emerson in the mystery like they were a couple of old crones. They're around 48, if Amelia gave her correct age in the first book, and that's not quite putting them in their dotage.

The Emersons do find a mummy in this book, but it's of a recently murdered woman and the family are once more plunged into a mystery. They tend to bumble around each other because they're all so secretive and sure they're right, so they refuse to share anything with each other. There was a lot of overlap and some silly dangers that could have been avoided. The whole secrecy aspect is going too far. After it almost got Amelia killed in the last book they should know better.

The story was okay, but I disliked a lot of the characters. Ramses is no longer my favourite. It's a good continuation of the series, but that was pretty much it for me.

Elizabeth Peters - The Hippopotamus Pool (1996)

This is the eighth book in the Amelia Peabody series. It is 1900 and the whole family is back in Egypt for this excavation season where they stumble upon a Royal Tomb in Thebes - mostly by following the thieves back to it. This has two parties after them, one to protect Queen Tetisheri and one to kill off the Emersons and loot her tomb.

It was a fun book, but I didn't like the ending. I thought that, after everything she has experienced, Amelia's character was incredibly stupid.

I was very happy to have Walter and Evelyn back in Egypt, but I didn't think their characters resolved out very well. Evelyn arrived in Egypt heart-broken and at some point everything was suddenly fine? Maybe that got lost in the editing.

So a few hiccups in this book, but it was still a good book in the series. Ramses and Nefret develop into teenagers and they're joined by another 'brother', David. I'm still quite fond of Ramses, he's interesting, but nice and not a bully like his father. I like Emerson, but his constant bullying and yelling at people gets tiring after a book or three.

Elizabeth Peters - The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog (1992)

This is the seventh book in the Amelia Peabody series.

The Emersons are back in Egypt, having left Ramses and their adopted daughter Nefret at home in England. Unfortunately, even though they told no-one of their find, someone knows about the lost living Meroitic civilisation they discovered on their last excavation and they're determined to get the precise location. But, a mysterious stranger is equally determined to protect Peabody, although not so Emerson, who is abducted and later found with amnesia. This leads the group to Amarna, where Emerson thinks he's on the dig in 1884, before he ever met Peabody.

I didn't like the killing of the dog. It had been tortured and was terrified - they didn't need to beat it to death.

Other than that, the book was good, but not my favourite. I found Emerson to be much worse to Peabody than he was in the first book, he was very rough and often cruel. I kept hoping Amelia would give up on him and run off to someone nicer - I'm really not sure that Emerson is worth all the love and loyalty Amelia gives him when he does remember who she is. It was fun to have Sethos back. He's such an interesting character. I hope he has a larger role as himself in a later book - no, I don't believe the ending at all.

Elizabeth Peters - The Deeds of the Disturber (1988)

This is the fifth book in the Amelia Peabody series and is set in England in the Summer of 1896. The Emerson family have only just returned from an excavation season in Egypt when they're approached by a wastrel brother who wants to dump his children on Amelia and a journalist who has senationalised recent mummy-related deaths and wants the Emersons to solve the mystery (solely for his readers peace of mind).

Needless to say, Amelia, Emerson and Ramses cannot resist a mystery - even when Emerson pretends he can.

This was enjoyable. I liked being in England for a whole book. It was interesting to see the difference in their daily lives and the culture of the era. I also liked how much Peters entwines the growing consciousness of women and their rights, as they slowly evolve, into each book. Even Peabody, a devout suffragist, finds herself thinking in male inequality terms and has to challenge herself to think of women as equal and capable of doing whatever they want to do.

Elizabeth Peters - Lion in the Valley (1986)

This is book four in the Amelia Peabody series and the Emerson family is back in Egypt in 1896 to excavate at Dahshoor, where Amelia finally gets her pyramids. Unfortunately the Master Criminal Sethos is back, showering Amelia with gifts and trying to woo her from Emerson in his own underhanded ways. Who said romance was dead?

Along the way Amelia picks up a new set of disgruntled lovers to unite, saves her son Ramses from constant impending doom (usually brought about by his own precocious mind), keeps her husband Emerson from alienating all of Egypt and clears her friends of murder. All the normal run of happenings in an excavation season for Mrs. Amelia Peabody Emerson!

These books are fun and I am rapidly reading my way through them. They make 1890s Egypt sound so romantic and interesting - you don't have to deal with flies, heat, thirst or general travel illnesses. Armchair-book-travel is the best way to go!