The tenth book in the Amelia Peabody –series is set in the years 1906-1907 so a few years have again gone by. This is also the first Peabody book I got as an audiobook. I enjoyed the reading mostly although sometimes the reader seemed to sigh or sound bored. Of course, I’ve imagined the sound of Emerson’s voice to be quite a bit deeper than Barbara Rosenblat’s. 🙂

Like the previous book, this story is presented as a manuscript which was found among the papers the Emersons’ left behind. Even though most of the book is from Amelia’s first person point-of-view, there are two other storytellers as well. One of them is manuscript H written in third person from Rameses’ point-of-view and it’s revealed here that Ramses had written it. There are also some letters that Nefret has written to an unnamed person but whom I strongly suspect is her young friend Lia. The letters and manuscript H describe events happening behind Amelia and Emerson’s back which can be quite amusing at times.

The book starts in London where Amelia and her grown son Ramses are taking part in a suffragette protest. The rally was to take place outside Mr. Geoffrey Romer of the House of Commons. He’s an enemy of the movement but one of the newer members thinks that she can persuade him to listen to her. However, Amelia notices something strange but uncharacteristically doesn’t say anything about.

Later, a detective from Scotland Yard seeks Amelia’s advice and confirms her forebodings: during the protest, Mr. Romer’s private collection of Egyptian antiquities was stolen. Amelia though she recognized one of the people going into the house and the police suspect that the thief is none other than Sethos, the Master Criminal. Alas, Amelia hasn’t been in contact with him and doesn’t know anything new.

Soon, a letter arrives to the Daily Yell where Sethos claims credit for the caper and apologizes to both the suffragette movement and Amelia much to the amusement of the press.

However, Emerson is determined to return to Egypt even though he still hasn’t managed to get an exciting excavation spot. The Emersons are still working in the Valley of the Kings recording the contents of the known tombs. But before they can depart for Egypt, someone tries to kidnap Amelia. The attempt doesn’t succeed but it’s a dire warning that something is going on. Also, it scares Amelia’s best friend Evelyn. Evelyn’s youngest daughter Lia is very interested in archeology and she was supposed to join the Emersons in Egypt this year. However, after Sethos’ appearance and the kidnap attempt, Lia isn’t allowed to go to Egypt.

But Amelia, Emerson, Nefret, Ramses, and his best friend David leave for Egypt. Nothing strange happens at first and Amelia despairs that the season will be a dull one. Little does she know that Ramses and David are running around in the seedy underworld of Cairo disguised as Egyptian small-time criminals. They manage to get their hands on an ancient Book of the Dead which is in a very good condition. Soon, it becomes apparent that other people want to get, too. Also, the man who sold the book to them is killed, supposedly by a crocodile.

The Emersons are again witty and enjoyable. Many characters from the previous books make an appearance. The mystery is again more of a subplot than the main substance but there was still enough of it to satisfy me. Amelia doesn’t tell nearly everything to Ramses, Nefret, and David, and still treats them like children. So the trio tries to find out as much information on their own as they can. Their escapades would shock Amelia if only she knew what they were doing.

But I started to wonder where the series is going. It seems to me that Peters is grooming the next generation of archeologists to take over: Ramses is already an action hero and Nefret is trying her best not to be sidelined all the time. Unfortunately for me, I like Amelia and Emerson, and don’t want them to become secondary characters. Ramses is already more cool that the titular main character of the series with his sarcasm and disguises. As for Nefret: do we really need another More Pretty than God character? Shallow as it is, I’d like Nefret more if she wasn’t oh, so very beautiful.

For me the appeal of the series is Amelia and her point-of-view. There are quite enough male centric (historical) series out there; it would a shame if this series, too, will succumb to being All About the Men. I do read about male character. I just don’t want to read about them all the time.

Also, there are not one but two courtship romances in the book. One of them is Ramses admiring Nefret but not telling her how he feels (insert eye rolling here). I’m still hoping that Nefret will find someone else but since Ramses is becoming the main character, he’ll likely get her after an excruciatingly long courtship. (I much prefer established couples.)

The book has quite a few moments where Amelia expresses knowledge of the future (Little did we know then…) but that’s understandable when she’s writing the story after the events.

Side note: the Wikipedia article contains a lot of spoilers for the cast! Dammit! If only I could unlearn what I read from there!