Customer Reviews

The Mummy Case (Amelia Peabody, Book 3)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This novel is the third of the Amelia Peabody series and in my opinion the most enjoyable of the three.

In this episode, Ramses, the couple's son, though still very young, has developed his own personality and plays an important role.

The plot is expectedly quite unrealistic but the author's expertise as Egyptologist allows her to introduce a slew of details that provide a lot of verisimilitude.

What is truly original and amusing are the dialogues and descriptions by Amelia Peabody, the novel being written in the first person.

It provides exceptional entertainment and is warmly recommended, particularly of course to those with a special interest in ancient Egypt or archaeology.

Intrepid Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and her irrascible husband, who has been dubbed the "Father of Curses" by the Egyptian natives, once again set forth to uncover the treasures of the ancient pharoahs. This time they take along with them their young son nicknamed Ramses and John, a servant in their employ from England.

Relegated to digging in an area deemed 'not worthy' by husband Radcliff Emerson, they are soon in the midst of a complex situation wherein a band of antiquities thieves are being lead by a Master Criminal. As Amelia tries to do her detective work she is stymied by a host of suspects and conflicting clues and information. After she and Radcliffe are thrown into the thick blackness of an ancient burial chamber in the Black Pyramid without hope of rescue, they are left to wonder if they have indeed met their fate.

This reader found the plot confusing, as though it was searching for a way to untangle itself. The redeeming grace of this book is Ramses, who speaks with the vocabulary of a university professor with a lisp that makes him all the more endearing. The characters here are stronger than the plot and have earned this book four stars.

I'm a great supporter of the Amelia Peabody series but this one really bored me in the second half. The "mystery" was just dull and the secondary characters not interesting. I thought Curse of the Pharoahs was much better. I agree also that Ramses' "baby talk" was distracting. It gets three stars because as usual, the main characters are still hilarious and lovable. The first part of the book is great.

are giving her fits! First there is her handsome, brilliant husband, Radcliffe Emerson, the emminent Egyptologist who finds himself once again being dragged away from his work by Amelia's escapades. Then the mysterious Master Criminal again wrecks havoc in the lives of the Emersons and their friends. The most exasperating 'man' in Amelia's life, however, turns out to be her precocious son 'Ramses'. By the time most children are struggling with their ABCs Ramses can both speak and read several languages including Arabic and was well versed in the family vocation of Eqyptology.

The Emersons set out for another season digging for ancient Eqyptian artifacts but soon find themselves swept up by a series of more modern mysteries and adventures.

The most charming aspects of this series are the hilarious Emerson family. Amelia and her tendancy to overestimate her abilities, and Emerson and his tendancy to underestimate them, are both confounded by their son's talents to keep them both struggling to keep up.

Ramses has a speech impediment (affection?) that the author uses, I believe, to remind the reader that he is very young. The first few times it appears this device is rather cute but it does begin to wear thin after a time. He does outgrow it later in the series so bear with it for now. His precociousness brings a smile to anyone who can recall putting one over on an adult and bit of chagrin to any parent who has had a child put one over on them.

I love this series, particularly watching the characters grow and change with the times. The mysteries are intriguing, the action exciting and the comedy is delightful.

This third book in the Amelia Peabody Emerson series is a great one. In it, the Peabody Emersons are once again headed to Egypt for the digging season. This time, however, they (and we) also get to me their son, called Ramses, as he also joins them. The mystery of this one is the usual mix of Egyptology, dastardly deeds, romance, and the indomitable Amelia. The addition of the talkative, often times know-it-all, adventurous Ramses is great; however, the ability of this child to know as much, if not more, than his parents is it hard to believe at time, but this is after all fiction. As usual, Ms. Peters leaves us with a better understanding of the beauty that is Egyptian history -- the woman knows her stuff. The great thing about this book is that there were times when I was actually on the edge of my seat, furiously reading the pages in order to find out what happened next. All in all, a great read and a lot of fun.

Generally speaking I've enjoyed the Amelia Peabody series, and I was fairly entertained by this one as well, with one major drawback: the character Ramses' dialog. His speech is baby talk (spelled phonetically) throughout the book, something I found extremely distracting for its saccharine sweetness. Unfortunately, Ramses is a prominent character, so his speech cannot be avoided easily.

Beyond the fact that the baby talk made the book difficult to read, I found it mildly insulting. I felt like the author didn't trust me to "get" the fact that Ramses is both very young and very intelligent, so the baby talk was there to continually remind me. I think Peters should have trusted her readers to pick up on Ramses' personality characteristics without having to be clubbed over the head with them every time the boy opened his mouth.

To be honest, I was not a mystery fan until I was given a stack of Elizabeth Peters novels as a birthday present. I gave the first three a try, because they are about Egyptology, something I am extremely interested in. Now that I have finished 'The Mummy Case,' I am hooked. Gotta go get more Egypt mysteries.

The charachters in all of the books are very likeable, especially if you are interested in archaeology and history, as my hubby and I are. (I could almost imagine us in place of Emerson and Peabody during some of their arguments.) There were also plenty of humorous breaks to the suspense and drama, and just enough action to speed you through the end. Even Ramses (and I know I'm going to get flack for saying this,) becomes more likeable toward the end of the book, and his presence was initially my least favorite part of the book. That is my only real nitpick though, and I look foreward to reading more novels in this series.

The Mummy Case is a story that goes so many places all at the same instance! I so wanted Amelia and Radcliffe to give over their pride and just admit to each other who they thought the culprit was & why, just so that I would know what was going on in this tangled story! I'll try not to reveal too much of the confusion, for that might betray who the final culprit(s) are.

This third installment of the Amelia Peabody-Emerson journals starts out w/Emerson trying to secure the excavation at Dahshoor. However M. de Morgan has already decided to excavate there himself & instead gives the Emersons the pathetic sight of Mazghunah. Unfortunately, in the activities preceding their move to Mazghunah, Peabody has a midnight excursion that leaves one antiquities dealer dead. However, earlier that same day, Amelia chanced to overhear a conversation he was having where mention was made of "The Master". Thus Amelia's detective instincts are vastly prickled and she is out to find this Master Criminal who seems to be in charge of the increase in illegal antiquities trade that has recently come about. What follows are more murders, more attempts at murder, more attempts at kidnapping, more ridiculous and hilarious Ramses' adventures, more attempts at Peabody and Emerson outsmarting the other and a whole new slew of interesting and bizarre characters.

When you read this story, you will finally find yourself out of the murk of the plot in the last chapter or two when the not so logical motive of the murderer is revealed (logical of course in the mentally challenged mind of the murderer) and everything that happened is explained. I write this review after having already read book four in this series, and i have to say, book four is a serious improvement from book 3. i liked this book all right but the story was v. bungling and all over the place. and so many times did i want to yell at Amelia - "Listen to your son!!! He has something important to say!!!" i know he's annoying & goes on & on & on but he is very smart and is able to see things from a different perspective that she could benefit from.

And response to the comment about there being too much sex in this novel. I don't know why your (self-)righteous feathers were ruffled, all the HINTED and INSINUATED sex occurred between two people who are married. and the last i heard, that was a righteous and pure expression approved of by God between two people who have committed themselves to each other through the bonds of matrimony. and really, if you are offended by what you think is a lot of sex in this book, should you really be reading a book that provides as part of its entertainment murder, deceit, thievery and many things unrighteous???

~ - ~ - ~
Amelia is married now, but no less independent, or strong willed! The romance certainly isn't gone either. This mystery is generally very light. But we meet a character Amelia dubs "The Master Criminal"
-~(You'll want to meet him right from the start, just in case he sneaks into the later books, Careful, you may have a hard time spotting this master of disguise!)
:- )
``Emerson is as loveably irascible as ever, though he has a soft spot for one very special person, and surprisingly enough it's not Amelia
Young, "catastrophically precocious" Ramses, son of Amelia and Emerson, really is the star of this story. He is constantly adorably mischevious,getting into trouble, and coming up with some startling clues of his own.
Ramses is certainly believable as a well-meaning little boy, who attracts trouble (and dirt) like a magnet.
~~~~I recommend this book heartily as it is the one that got me hooked on the series.
*****Great fun-not a very deep mystery, but you really will be having too much fun to care!

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone! While I absolutely love the author's style and the setting, there is too much sex in this story...I didn't feel right reading it! No, the scenes are not very explicit, but they are explicit enough and happen every otehr chapter or so. If you are a Christian or have any morals at all, do not read this book. I hate to say all this because otherwise, I enjoyed this book.