Drinker of Blood

Lord Meren #5

by Lynda S. Robinson

With the top secret investigation of Queen Nefertiti's murder in full gallop, Lord Meren is suddenly called away to investigate the bizarre death of Pharaoh Tutankhamen's favorite groom.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Egypt, Historical Mystery, Historical, Thriller, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Lynda Suzanne Robinson (b. July 6, 1951 in Amarillo, Texas) is an American writer, author of romance (under the name Suzanne Robinson) and mystery novels (under the name Lynda S. Robinson). She is best known for her series of historical whodunnits set in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Tutankhamun and featuring Lord Meren, "the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh." She lives in Texas with her husband and has a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Reviews

[Jenks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am unsure if I just left it too long to read this final instalment of the Lord meren series ...but I found this one to be not as good as the rest. I'd go as far to say out of the lord meren books this is the one I enjoyed the least. I still love the ancient Egypt setting and this will remain my favourite setting for novels - I just felt the pace was a little slow and there was no ending worthy of a final novel out of a series . Disappointing . I will
Continue to read the rest of the authors books as this wouldn't deter me 😊

[A.L. Sirois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book builds on the story begun in the previous one, EATER OF SOULS, which was the 4th of Robinson's novels about Lord Meren, the Eyes and Ears of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. (Although some of the threads began to be gathered in the 3rd novel, MURDER AT THE FEAST OF REJOICING.) In DRINKER, Lord Meren, confidant of the young king Tut, begins to track down the person who was responsible for the desecration of Tut's brother, the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, who sought to banish the Old Gods of Egypt in favor of the sun god, the Aten. The only person who could influence Akhenaten was his young wife, the beautiful Nefertiti. After Ahkenaten's death, Nefertiti, too, died -- and not, as Meren discovers, from illness. The queen was poisoned. Meren tries to shield Tutankhamun from this knowledge, because whoever is responsible for Nefertiti's death remains at large, and may well try to kill him, too. This is an intricately plotted book with fascinating characters, including Meren's estranged cousin and his headstrong daughters; and although Meren is making progress, it seems that every living member of the Queen's retinue is dying suspiciously. Someone knows something, and Meren needs to find out who. But before he can, he is enmeshed in a trap that makes it seem that he has tried to murder Tut -- and suddenly Meren is the one who is on the run from the king's guards.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was one great plot twist. The book started out quite slowly with the "mystery of the book" barely touched upon as Meren was focusing on the threads left hanging from the previous volumes. However it was still very, very interesting and well-written. Did I mention how I adore Bener?

Then the plot twist came and the pace began picking up. However... it was resolved much, much to easily and with a way that I didn't really enjoy. The emotional payoff however was very good and I'm ready to move to the final volume.

Did I mention how I adore Bener?

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ancient Egypt...I love stories about Egypt from the pyramid age to the thirties when the English looked upon Egypt as a primary destination and then, of course, all the excavating and treasure. I started this series and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. This one is about King Tut and about the death of Nefertiti. I did not like it as much as the several I have read. But it is important to the series and as I said, it's about Ancient Egypt.

[Wendy Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atmospheric mystery series set in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Tutankhamen. This book includes a fascinating portrait of Nefertiti during the reign of her husband the 'heretic pharaoh' Akhenaten but the central mystery of her death remains frustratingly unsolved at the end of book (which I believe is the last currently published).

[sarg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I’m a little disappointed with this book I learned little about Egyptian life or history. It is basically a murder mystery. It was an ok mystery and a fair read but not what I was looking for. Gave it 3 stars

[Fiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would've liked to have seen this as two separate books. As it was, the back and forth between Lord Meren's story and Nefertiti's was too dizzying for me to keep up with. So DNF'ed.

I highly recommend the first three books in this series, starting with Murder in the Place of Anubis.

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a background novel to the ongoing mystery of who killed Nefetiti.

[Raquel Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

O livro divide os capítulos entre o reinado de Akhenaten com o seu pai e sozinho e o reinado de Tutankhamun. O homicídio a investigar é o de Nefertiti.
A série avança e mantém o leitor agarrado.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

To really enjoy this book, you need to read the series in order.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy stories about Ancient Egypt, and Robinson writes well. However, the story isn’t finished, the mystery isn’t solved, and my library doesn’t have the rest of her books. So sad.

[Bill Rakowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read a second time. Finished on Dec 19, 2017.

[Marfita · Rating 1 out of 5]

Robinson is a good writer, I'm just appalled at what she's done to an historical character. Is there such a thing as "historical character assassination"? You can make Elizabeth Tudor into a Nancy Drew, you can insert a false regency into 18th century England, but there are (at least in my book) limitations. Drinker of Blood is the fifth in the Lord Meren series and the only one of the series I have read. Robinson portrays a good sense of the time period flavored with noire grittiness (or maybe that's just all the sand). There is much to like in the book, but some of it was simply not to my taste. The murder at the beginning solves itself in a desultory fashion toward the end, after being pointedly ignored by Meren. On top of it all, there is the on-going mystery that carried over from the previous book and is not resolved in this one! All the events are intricately intertwined, but I didn't like it just because of the treatment of an historic person. I understand why, I just didn't like it. Don't let it spoil your reading just because I'm a priss and naive in my understanding of egyptology.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complex mystery in which the past impacts the present, and both are placed in the far distant past of ancient Egypt. The chapters alternate between the events of Queen Nefertiti's life and Lord Meren's investigation into her death. The switches are seamless, and the historical perspective is made vivid and engrossing due to the reader being immersed in the life and thoughts of the queen.

The adventure is truly dangerous for Meren and his family since someone is determined to convince the pharaoh Tut that Meren is a traitor. The only drawback to this book is that while Meren eliminates some suspects from his list, he doesn't solve the mystery of the Queen's death by the end of this book.

[Holly Lindquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be where the Lord Meren series takes off, because this is where he starts getting very close to finding out who killed Nefertiti. The murder mystery of Nefertiti has been an underlying plot weaving through all the books, percolating in the background during Meren's various other investigations. The young pharaoh Tutankhamen is especially driven to figure out what happened to her, as she was like a mother to him. The emotional stakes are high, the suspense has been building through the whole series... so why does this book seem so darn pallid compared to its predecessors? It just isn't engaging at all. The writing itself seems about twice as formulaic as usual and certain things are repeated more than they need to be. Could have been much better.

[Doris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story promised to solve the mystery behind the death of the most beautiful woman in Egypt, Queen Nefertiti. To do this, Lord Meren has to search in some unlikely places, and is able to identify those who might have committed a heinous crime, murder of a beloved ruler. His search puts his family in danger, and several people are killed, making the idea that Nefertiti's death was murder more likely.

Overall a good read, although I was thrown off by the back and forth between times, as the view shifted from the time of Nefertiti to the time of King Tut.

[Darth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord Meren continues to investigate the death of Nefertiti, and someone is not happy about it.

Could have been better without all the unneeded flashback chapters. 90% of that material had been covered in previous books, and it did not add to the narrative for me, rather it detracted from it by trying to be allude to future events that you know already happened.

Weak device, and makes me all the more glad only one left in this series. Gonna just power through and finish this series and move on.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the book was 3-4 stars. My rating jumped because I hate murder/mysteries that never verify who the murderer is. It was also a little low because it took me awhile to get used to the time jump (every other chapter is a different time period).

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I found it really interesting and captivating. I actually read this without reading the first book in the series but I still found my way along just fine and am going to read more books by this author.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry to say I stopped reading this about halfway through. I had read the previous books in the series a long while ago, and this one seemed like a continuation of the previous stories, which I couldn't really remember. It just didn't grab me.

[Xarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 5th book in the Lord Meren series.

[Alison]

#5

[Sandy Guest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going through the entire Lord Meren series and have enjoyed it a lot. I think there is one more to this series - he still has to find the killer of Nefertiti!