Lord of the Silent Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 1, 2001
by Elizabeth Peters
 
“Irresistible….Amelia is still a joy.”
 —New York Times Book Review
 
The intrepid archeologist Amelia Peabody and her fearless family, the Emersons, are back in Egypt, and something very nasty is afoot in Lord of the Silent—New York Times bestselling Grandmaster Elizabeth Peters’s sparkling adventure with more riddles than the Sphinx and more close calls and stunning escapes than  an Indiana Jones movie. Reviewers are simply agog over Lord of the Silent, calling it, “Wonderfully entertaining” (Washington Times), “Deeply satisfying”  (Entertainment Weekly), and in the words of the Toronto Globe and Mail, “The hype is true. This is Peters’s best book.”
 
Amazon.com Review
Amelia Peabody Emerson is the Mary Poppins of Egypt. Forthright, intrepid, and industrious, she brooks no nonsense from anyone and is armed with an apparently magical parasol. As the legions of fans of Elizabeth Peters's Edwardian archeological mystery series know, Amelia is also possessed of a swift temper, an incorrigible curiosity, and an uncanny proclivity for attracting trouble. But in 1915, with the world gripped by the madness of war, trouble is endemic. In an effort to prevent their son Ramses from being coerced into working for British intelligence (in the sort of endeavor that nearly got him killed a year earlier when he infiltrated a band of Egyptian nationalists and prevented a Turkish-backed uprising), Amelia and husband Emerson and the rest of their dizzyingly large entourage flee England for the reassuringly stoic splendor of their beloved Egyptian ruins.
So much for a quiet dig among the mastabas. With their usual luck, the family promptly finds itself inundated by would-be assassins and nosy journalists. Amelia quickly deduces that Ramses's undercover work is at the root of both threat and curiosity; more puzzling is the appearance of the odd corpse or two and a rash of stunningly efficient tomb robberies. When Ramses and his wife, Nefret, travel to Luxor to check on the security of some of their old excavations, they find an all-too-familiar irritant behind the robberies. It would be telling to reveal his identity, but fans of the series will soon figure it out, with the aid of a little suspension of disbelief. With Ramses and Nefret on one hand, and Amelia and Emerson on the other, engaged in "protecting" the other side from conflict and trouble, the novel unfolds in a merry chase of misdirection and miscommunication.
There is a comforting consistency to Peters's series. By now, all of the characters' quirks are etched in stone like so many well-worn hieroglyphs. Amelia's narrative has the familiarity of a treasured and oft-read letter from a slightly batty aunt. Even the miraculous return of (no, I really can't say), though perhaps intended as a radical plot twist, adheres to the most genteel of mystery traditions, à la Doyle and Christie. Innovation can be overrated; with Peters's flawless record of producing amusing, easily digested novels showing no signs of faltering, fans should devour this morsel--and wait impatiently for the next tasty installment. --Kelly Flynn
From Publishers Weekly
In Egypt, 1915, the redoubtable English archaeologist Amelia Peabody Emerson and her eccentric and closely knit group of family and friends are up to their old tricks. The Emersons may believe that they are merely engaging in another season of excavation, but legions of devoted readers know that Amelia's archaeological fervor has never stopped her from charging into another thrilling episode of crime-solving, dragging her husband and children enthusiastically along. Amelia's son, Ramses, and his new wife, Nefret, are trying to settle into their married life and find ways to build a more equal relationship with their overwhelming and irrepressibly adventurous parent. Amelia is worried, however, that an officious British army officer might try to recruit Ramses again as a spy (as in the previous book, 2000's He Shall Thunder in the Sky). To keep him out of the spymaster's clutches, she sends Ramses and Nefret off to Luxor to investigate a series of thefts from archaeological sites. As always in this series of uproarious Egyptological mysteries, plenty of strange doings are afoot in the desert, and readers will find all the delicious trappings of a vintage Peters extravaganza lost tombs, kidnappings, deadly attacks, mummies and sinister villains. (May 1)Forecast: Her large and faithful following will ensure that Peters, a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, once again reaches the lofty heights of the bestseller lists.
 
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
 
3.1