I did it! I have now read the entire eighteen-book Amelia Peabody series, and while I don’t know if there’s another installment, I’m all set to read it if one were to come out.
“The Tomb of the Golden Bird” revolves around the finding of the tomb of the great King Tut by Carter, and not by Emerson. What a harsh blow to the ego that was for our favorite Egyptologist. He’s been on the wrong side of the men in charge of assigning archaeological sites for quite a while, and spent a good deal of time banned from the Valley, period, so one might presume he had it coming. But to be that close to the find of a century, and not be the one to make it – such a tragedy.
The Emersons have plenty enough to keep them busy, however. They headed out early this season in hopes of making things right with the powers that be, and when that failed, decided to pursue a somewhat less exalted dig, not to be put off entirely. David, Sennia and Gargery are coming out as well – David to help with the artwork, and Sennia because she hasn’t been back to the land of her birth in a couple of years. Gargery goes wherever Sennia goes, and he anticipates a little bit of adventure – but what he doesn’t anticipate is being abducted at the station, only to be returned unharmed a short while later.
In fact, a few of the members of the Emerson party have had mysterious things happen to them, and it all makes sense when Sethos shows up, suffering another bout of malaria. Strange things always happen when he’s around. He carries the tale of a coded document, men out to get him, a secret combination, and an attempted assassination. Ramses and David retrieve the document, only to find they can’t break the code. Amelia, however, stumbles across the solution – would we expect anything less of her?
I found this book to be somewhat less organized than the previous Amelia Peabody books in that it didn’t seem to flow logically from one thing to the next. The plot seemed a little patchy to me. I was also disappointed that after years of watching Bertie moon over Jumana, their engagement was handled in a less-than-satisfying way – I would have liked a passionate kiss in the garden, or something along those lines. However, these criticisms won’t keep me from recommending this book as whole-heartedly as I have the others. This is a wonderful series – smart, funny, educational, and sassy, and I especially liked the rich descriptions of the wonderful artifacts found in King Tut’s tomb.
(This book was published in 2006 by HarperCollins.)
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