The Curse of the Pharaohs (Amelia Peabody, #2) in Reading the Detectives

Mar 09, 2015 Teri-K rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, z-own-audio, feisty-females, audio-recommended

I always feel let down when I read this book right after the first one. It's still a good mystery, and I can enjoy Amelia's strong voice, but it lacks so much of what I love in the first installment. For one thing, I don't find this book as amusing and fun as the first was. And I really miss that tight circle of Amelia and her three cohorts who battle it out against unknown forces through most of the first. Then, because this book comes second it doesn't feel as creative or surprising as the fir ...more

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Mar 26, 2008 Susan in NC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: currently-re-reading, tbr-with-gr-groups, favorites

Still great fun - I read every book in this series years ago, and each new book became a yearly auto-buy for me. This time I listened to the audiobook, narrated brilliantly by the great Barbara Rosenblat. Some reviewers were annoyed the babyish voice she used for Amelia and Emerson’s son Ramses, but as a longtime fan of the series, I agreed with Amelia that the child was smart and devious enough to affect the baby talk to irritate his mother!

The key to my enjoyment of this series has always been Still great fun - I read every book in this series years ago, and each new book became a yearly auto-buy for me. This time I listened to the audiobook, narrated brilliantly by the great Barbara Rosenblat. Some reviewers were annoyed the babyish voice she used for Amelia and Emerson’s son Ramses, but as a longtime fan of the series, I agreed with Amelia that the child was smart and devious enough to affect the baby talk to irritate his mother!

The key to my enjoyment of this series has always been the humor - the mysteries were an afterthought, a chance for the recurring characters to add a soupçon of excitement and danger to the Egyptological excavations that were their main focus. I also appreciated Peters’ tongue-in-cheek poke at Victorian romances and mysteries, from H. Rider Haggard to Sherlock Holmes.

Here, the Emersons have settled into quiet domestic life, married several years and raising their son. As this book opens, the placidity of their existence has reduced Amelia to approaching a stolid local lady about allowing Emerson to excavate a burial barrow on her land. A hilarious scene ensues in which the stupid, snobbish lady receives her comeuppance for condescending rudely to our heroine, as Ramses enters the tea party, brandishing a muddy, stinky femur he has excavated from the compost heap (the family obsession for archeological digs goes deep!). Needless to say, the Emersons won’t get a chance to dig up the barrow...

Another visitor that night, the melodramatic Lady Baskerville, offers a much more tempting project. She wants Emerson, an old acquaintance, to carry on her husband’s work and clear the tomb he had discovered just before his recent death. A reporter has been hyping a “pharaoh’s curse” as the reason for Lord Baskerville’s death, so workers are afraid to carry on, and she is worried the tomb will be robbed. Once the Emersons arrive in Egypt, they begin to suspect Lord Baskerville’s death may not have been an accident, and must excavate, find a missing member of the staff (possibly a killer?), convince the native workers that there is no curse, and fend off the sensational press (inventors of the “curse”).

A lot going on at once, and Amelia loves every minute of it - Emerson just wants to work on the excavation site! I read these first books so long ago, I forgot a lot of the dramatic exploits that lead to the legendary status of the Emersons (Father of Curses and Sitt Hakim, or Lady Doctor, to their native friends), took place in these pages. The mystery is not so much the point, but the sense of adventure and fun are delightful! Just what I needed in these dark days of pandemic and political upheaval- the escapist pleasure and fond memories I always treasured from this series! ...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Wendy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, 2012-reads, mystery

I think Amelia Peabody is an amazing character!! She makes me laugh out loud!
This one wasn't as good as the first one in the series, but I still love these stories. ...more

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May 03, 2011 P. rated it liked it · review of another edition

I think this series is a case of you gets what you paid for. I paid for mild distraction and that's what I got. COP is the 2nd in the series and, unlike the first with its ultra-transparent plot, this one had the 'unfair to the reader because author withheld a lot of useful material aka clues', but what the heck, still a mild distraction, so good enough. I do not know how long this laissez-faire attitude of mine will last but then, summer dulls the brain, no?

P. ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Yorky Caz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really enjoy these books the author has created very likeable majn characters and has a very dry sense of humour that comes accross really well in the writing

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