World War I has come to an end, and it’s no longer dangerous to travel to Egypt. Walter and Evelyn are glad of this – they’ve been away for too long and can’t wait to return to the land of the Pharaohs. Amelia and Emerson are no less delighted that they are coming, and they’re bringing with them David and Lia. The whole group will be reunited at last.
One peculiar addition to the party is Sethos, Emerson and Walter’s half-brother. Walter doesn’t know he’s related to the Master Criminal himself – there just never has been a good time to tell him. When Sethos waltzes in and joins the little soiree, Walter hears the news and faints dead away. Who can blame him – it’s not every day you learn you have a half-brother, let alone that he’s one of the most talented tomb robbers ever to come down the pike. Or down the Nile, for that matter.
A strange series of accidents begins to befall the Emerson clan, but they are pushed to the back burner when Sethos announces he’s been looking for his daughter, Maryam. When she shows up a short time later, Amelia sends a telegram to Sethos, telling him that the missing person has been found. Sethos returns almost immediately and begins to patch up rocky relationships with his daughter, who has blamed Amelia for her mother’s death for years. Amelia explains to the girl what really happened, and, feeling that all is well, sets about her preparations for the holiday season.
In the meantime, the director of the Museum of Antiquities has been out to look over Cyrus’s find, made in our previous book. He’s very impressed with what he sees and makes out a list of what he wants to display at the museum, but then a theft occurs and some of the most valuable pieces in the collection are taken. Amelia is forced to think harder than ever before – there has to be a pattern between everything that’s happened, but she just can’t put her finger on it, a first for the venerable sleuth.
Ramses and Nefret are busy chasing their two-year-old twins, but that doesn’t keep them from pitching in and helping to solve the mystery. Another fabulous addition to the series, “Children of the Storm” is a definite keeper.
(This book was published in 2003 by HarperCollins.)
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