Our next installment in the Amelia Peabody series takes us to Chalfont House, the home in London where the Emerson family lives during the summer when not at their Kent estate. Amelia has caught wind of a women’s rights protest march and is determined to join in, bringing along some chains. You see, the last demonstration saw women hauled away by the constables, but as Amelia reasons, if she chains herself to a fence, they can’t very well haul her away, now, can they? Refusing Emerson’s offer to drive her to the demonstration in their new motor car, she bustles off, ready to use her words and her actions to fight for a cause so near to her heart – that of rights for women.
Upon her arrival at the scene of the demonstration, she observes three of the protesters manage to gain entrance to the home of the individual at whom the protest was aimed. A glimpse – but no, no one would believe her. Not until a policeman shows up on the steps later to ask her some questions does she reveal that she had noticed a familiar person in the house, and she states her firm belief that the person in question was indeed, the Master Criminal, Sethos.
The Emersons have had run-ins with Sethos on many occasions. Leader of the largest group of antiquity thieves in Egypt, he has reason to resent the Emersons and their infuriating, law-abiding ways. They have foiled him repeatedly, and he keeps coming back for more. There’s just something about Mrs. Emerson that keeps him from going away altogether. Once they thought he was dead, but no. Then they thought he’d left Egypt, which he had – to find himself in London, summer home to the Emersons.
Ramses is concerned for his mother’s safety, and her attempted abduction only a few days’ later confirms his suspicions. When the Emersons set sail for their winter in Egypt, he makes plans to find out as much as he can. With his best friend and adopted cousin David at his side, he disguises himself and goes into the villages, gathering as much information as he can about Sethos and his plans. What he does not expect is to become the owner of a very old, very valuable papyrus, and to put Nefret, his sister in name only, in danger as well.
While most of the books in the Amelia Peabody series are written solely from Amelia’s point of view, these later volumes, where the children are approaching adulthood, have excerpts told through their eyes as well. I really enjoy getting to see the story from so many different angles, especially when Ramses dresses up to look like a ratty street beggar, complete with rubber warts, to gather information. The book becomes well-rounded and we have more opportunities for adventure.
So grab “The Ape Who Guards the Balance” today and answer the questions: What does Sethos want with Amelia this time? Where did that papyrus come from? And, will the question we’ve been waiting two books to be asked, ever be asked, and ever be answered?
(This book was published in 1998 by Avon Books.)
Related Blogs: