The Deeds of the Disturber [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Peters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1988

Can fear kill? There are those who believe so—but Amelia Peabody is skeptical. A respected Egyptologist and amateur sleuth, Amelia has foiled felonious schemes from Victoria's England to the Middle East. And she doubts that it was a Nineteenth-Dynasty mummy's curse that caused the death of a night watchman in the British Museum. The corpse was found sprawled in the mummy's shadow, a look of terror frozen on the guard's face. What—or who—killed the unfortunate man is a mystery that seems too intriguingly delicious for Amelia to pass up, especially now that she, her dashing archaeologist husband, Emerson, and their precocious son, Ramses, are back on Britain's shores. But a contemporary curse can be as lethal as one centuries old—and the foggy London thoroughfares can be as treacherous as the narrow, twisting alleyways of Cairo after dark—when a perpetrator of evil deeds sets his murderous sights on his relentless pursuer . . . Amelia Peabody!

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Peters (Barbara Michaels) regales thriller fans with the fifth tale about spunky Amelia Peabody, her ardent spouse Emerson and their small son Walter, "Ramses," a genius who sorely tries his parents. In the new story, the family is home in England from their archeological dig in Egypt and deep in another mystery. Determined Victorian feminist Peabody refuses to be intimidated by a phenomenon reported at the British Museum, where a sem priest is supposedly working a curse in revenge for the desecration of an ancient mummy. The priest's supernatural figure is momentarily glimpsed at the exhibit, before a murderer strikes. Disobeying Emerson, of course, Peabody lays her life on the line and unmasks the decidedly human villain. There are several intriguing new characters in this mystery, including nasty types who persecute Ramses, creating unexpectedly tender moments between mother and child. But the spotlight shines brightest on Peabody and Emerson, a couple evenly matched as hot-blooded lovers and professional partners. This is one of grandmaster Peters/Michaels best.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Fifth in the exceptional series that begins with Crocodile on the Sandbank , this adventure catches irascible archaeologist Amelia Peabody in London between digs. A mysterious death in front of a "cursed" mummy case in the British Museum piques Amelia's curiosity, and a subsequent connected murder engages her perspicacious intervention completely. Dangerously precocious son Ramses (at times disguised) and formidably handsome husband Emerson (at times stubbornly obtuse) contribute to the usual mayhem. First-rate, densely packed action, fun, and atmosphere. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (April 25, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689119070
• ISBN-13: 978-0689119071
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ELIZABETH PETERS, whose New York Times best-selling novels are often set against historical backdrops, earned a Ph.D. in Egyptology at the University of Chicago. She also writes best-selling books under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels. She lives in Frederick, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Satisfying Amelia Peabody Mystery set in England, June 8, 2000

By 

drdebs (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deeds of the Disturber (Amelia Peabody, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

In a nice change of pace, Elizabeth Peters makes England the setting for her fifth novel in the Amelia Peabody Emerson series. Set at the turn of the century, Peters has a great eye for period detail, a good knowledge of Egyptology and Egypt, and a marvelous sense of humour.

In this mystery the action is centered around a mummy and a murder victim--both in the British Museum. Radcliffe Emerson is furiously working on his manuscript (under deadline), Ramses is struggling to maintain his composure with two young cousins who are staying for a visit, and Amelia is (as always) writing an academic paper, struggling to control her son, and alternately fending off and succumbing to her husbands amorous advances. However, the whole family soon gets involved in trying to find out more about the mysterious mummy and the Egyptian priest who appears and disappears with alarming frequency.

I found this mystery a nice change of pace with its different setting and different cast of characters. I particularly liked the introduction of a wonderful butler named Gargery, who relishes every opportunity to get involved in the Emerson family's many escapades. If you're going to England in the near future and the British Museum is on your list of sights to see, be sure to take this book along. I think that you will enjoy seeing how little the interior of that august institution has changed!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A suspensful change of setting, July 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Deeds of the Disturber (Amelia Peabody, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was indeed a nice change of setting. I'm working my way through the series in order, and after Lion in the Valley (which I enjoyed) I was nevertheless a little tired of sand, Egypt, superstitious villagers, and all that. But Deeds of the Disturber's setting (London) and new characters (including Peabody's--um--"delightful" niece and nephew) really perked up this entry. Also, I found this a significantly darker book than its predecessors--it's never really gloom and doom (this is an Amelia Peabody mystery, after all!) but there's a sense of tragedy around several of the characters that seems more real and more sad than in the previous books. Too, Ramses continues to be the most disastrously endearing child in fiction. I also was pleased to see that, after the events at the end of Lion of the Valley, the tables are turned a bit in this novel.

Speaking of Lion of the Valley--in that novel I found Peabody to be insufferably, arrogantly smug. The author, I think, got rather carried away in that one (Peabody is smug, Emerson is angry, Ramses is long-winded, end of story). In Deeds of the Disturber, the characterization is much better: Peabody, especially, is back to her highly intelligent but essentially admirable self.

My only real complaint about this book is that "de cat Bastet" is present so briefly!

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Archaeological Adventures (with cats) meets Woman's Suffrage, May 17, 2000

By 

Linda Lohse-Lange "LinLohLan" (Muscatine, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deeds of the Disturber (Amelia Peabody, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was hooked from the first polysyllabic-word peppered sentence. This is real writing! This first-person account exudes the rareified atmosphere of the bowels of museums, bathtub rim-running cats, competing journalists, Egypt and England, spontaneously amorous old-fashioned hubby Emerson, and best of all, precocious young Ramses with his non-school-tainted (today it's called homeschooling) erudite vocabulary and mummification projects, all self-directed and in the vein of his Egyptologist parents. The Deeds of the Disturber was the first Amelia Peabody Mystery I had read. Peters puts me right in that Cairo hotel as Emerson stomps on the blasted newspaper, stands me on the dock in London as the gritty city grime smears my face, and has my feet getting damp in the rain as I follow her walking briskly to The New Scotland Yard a whole lot faster than the fashion-hobbled ladies on the street. Now I'm ordering all of Elizabeth Peters novels including the ones written under another one of her pen names, Barbara Michaels. I wish I knew more people who talked - and wrote - in real life like Peter's dialogue. Meanwhile, I'll escape with a cup of tea or a pint of Stout and her Amelia Peabody books.