Customer Reviews

The Mummy Case (Amelia Peabody Mysteries)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Mummy Case is the third in the series of Amelia Peabody mysteries, which are set in turn-of-the-century Egypt and England. Amelia is a staunch believer in the superiority of all things British, and her husband is an archaeologist with a mission (namely to save the antiquities of Egypt from the clutches of untrained archaeologists and unscrupulous antiquities dealers). All of the Peabody mysteries are tongue-in-cheek tributes to the mystery genre in general and English female detectives in particular.

The Mummy Case is the most enjoyable of the first three mysteries, in large part because we get to know the Emersons's four-year old enfant terrible--Walter Peabody Emerson, nicknamed "Ramses." Ramses already knows Coptic, Arabic, German, French, and the modern methods of archaeology. While his parents stumble about trying to find out how the death of a Cairo antiquities dealer is related to the mummy case of a German baroness and a village torn between an evangelical American missionary and the ancient Coptic church, Ramses quietly goes about solving the puzzle before either one of them.

Ramses is a fantastic addition to the Emerson family, and only increases the reader's enjoyment. The mysteries are not the main thing in these books; the development of highly individualistic characters is.

This remains one of the funniest books I've ever read. It's probably my favorite Amelia Peabody (Next to Lion in the Valley}
Oh how I wish Peters hadn't let Amelia's son Ramses grow up so quickly. In later books, his character(while interesting) has evolved into the standardized tall, dark and handsome leading man beloved of all historical mystery writers. But oh, what a fiendishly (not to mention, hysterically funny) atrocious little boy he is in these early books. I love his lisp! I love the way Peters sets his longwinded conversations with the lisp in tact. If you read them aloud, they're even funnier. What a deranged little genius. And speaking of deranged, what about his father, the most famous archeologist of his or any other time, Radcliffe Emerson? I love Amelia, I really do, but one of the main reasons I read and reread these books, is the inspired lunacy of her husband. Whenever I'm depressed, I pick up The Mummy Case or one of the other early Peabodys and I'm sent back to turn of the century Egypt and the intrepid Amelia and her zany family. DON'T
read these for the mysteries, although there certainly is one in every book, instead read these for the ingenious characters and the inspired lunacy of plot. This is satire in its best form. Fun. Fun. Fun.
I'm wondering if Elizabeth Peters now regrets setting these books in 'real' time. I believe she should've held on to the earlier years of the Emersons a bit longer. I'm also wondering why this wonderful series hasn't been snapped up by Hollywood.
If I could, I'd option them myself.

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 (affectation?) 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.

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.

Doubtless, not all mystery writers write the way that American Eliszabeth Peters does, and if any, it most likely British authors (like the Miss Marple mysteries). I first came across this bookwhile staying overnight at a friend's house whose home is practically a library in itself. The Elisabeth Peters mysteries are very popular in public libraries and although I had seen the covers before, they never drew enough attention to warrant my checking them out. But now that I've read "The Mummy Case", I'm hooked. It is without a doubt the most enjoyable mystery you will ever read. Although I'm late in my discovery of this already popular series, I can't wait to read more books from Miss Peters.

In this novel, written in the first person, Amelia Peabody tells of a particular archaeological excavation adventure she took with her husband, the brilliant Radcliffe Emerson, and their annoyingly precocious child Ramses. Everything about this novel is absolutely wonderful, and I highly recommend this book to all lovers of mystery, adventure, lovers of well-written novels in the English language and even lovers of comedy. First off, the character of Amelia Peabody. Most fictional detectives in literature from the time of Sherlock Holmes onward have been male. As Amelia is female, her character is a perfect role model of women's empowerment. Moms, even dads, if you have a daughter who is highly literate (she's read the Harry Potter books, etc) and shows definate interest in literature, PLEASE PLEASE make her read this book! Amelia Peabody is smart, sassy (in a good way), assertive, intelligent, perceptive, intellectual, "very English" but not overly proper, loving, caring, compassionate, charismatic. She is a great mother who has encouraged her 4 year old son to study archaeology and fomented his intellect. She seems to be a great wife, and definately not overly submissive to her husband (a great rarity considering this novel is set in the late 19th century)and is her husband's equal partner in life and in their joint careers as Egyptologists. Her only fault (and maybe it's not) is that she seems to want to dominate her husband. Now, I'm a feminist and believe in gender equality and marriage-teamwork, but it is just as bad for a woman to be the "dominant" one as it is for a man to be the dominant one. But even with her powerful nature, she is still a terrific character to read about. It's just that I noticed how there was a distinct tension/conflict between Amelia and Radcliffe but nothing big enough to warrant possible divorce. They are just both so very powerful.

Their son, Ramses, is an imperious, witty, verbose intellectual. And he's only 3 or 4 years old! Ramses's involvement in the excavation is the most hilarious aspect. He is so annoying, yet so loveable and is always getting himself into all kinds of trouble. One wonders how a movie version or tv series of these books would have fared. These characters are so wonderful it would have been, for me, highly entertaining to see them portrayed by a cast of actors.

As for Mr. Radcliffe Emerson, he's the typical educated 19th century upper-class Englishman. He's non-religious (and in fact he is even openly anti-Christian, as his confrontations with the Coptic Christians show us) and ruled by science, progress and philosophy. He's very domineering, described as ruggedly handsome but always just a step beneath the sleuth prowess of his wife. So basically, we have a Mr. and Mrs. Indiana Jones with the Mrs. Jones being the stronger character. Toward the end of the novel, Radcliffe Emerson, who found the Lost Gospel in the Bible, speculates what would later be the basis for The Da Vinci Code! Take in mind that this book was written in the 1980's, and Holy Grail, Holy Blood was in libraries and bookstores at the time. Radcliffe wonders if the Lost Gospel spoke of Jesus as the spouse of Mary Magdalene and the father of children. The novel is worth reading. The language sometimes appears pretentious, but we are reading about the 19th century and people who are very educated. Even if there are some big words that prompted me to use the dictionary or to learn about Egyptology, this is all a good thing. It is still so enjoyable a story that it will capture your imagination and have you laughing, theorizing and learning. Enjoy!

Amelia Peabody, the viewpoint character, is a head-strong, decisive woman, despite her Victorian origins. In The Mummy Case, Amelia foils The Master Criminal with help from her equally opinionated husband, Emerson, and her precocious son, Ramses. As the entire family is fascinated with Egyptology, it is only natural that the adventure takes place during an archaeological dig. This is Amelia's first encounter with the Master Criminal. If you've read the books out of order, like I have, you'll find that tidbit enough to make you rush out and get a copy

I actually would rate this 3.5 stars, but you don't get that option here, so I bumped it up to 4. Amelia Peabody is an irrepressible archaeologist, married to the Father of Curses, the headstrong Radcliffe Emerson. Together with their incredibly precocious son Ramses, they set off for a dig in Egypt, which falls far short of their hopes for discovery of artifacts and antiquities. Along the way they cross paths with the Master Criminal of Egypt, and set about solving the mystery of The Mummy Case. Full of adventure, mystery and humor the third book in the series gives us our first introduction to the too clever for his own good Ramses. The book looses half a star, because of Ramses speech impediment, which drove me to distraction. Outside of that it was a fast and clever story, and if Amelia Peabody ever meets Indiana Jones, I am not sure who would come out the winner.

This book features Amelia's son Ramses in all his trouble-making glory, as well as the Emersons' first encounter with Sethos. It's hilarious, and the perfect book to read if you're looking for background on the later books without having to read all of the early volumes.

This is the 3rd book of the Amelia Peabody series. Those of us who have been following Elizabeth Peters' series at first were confused, but it is a release of an old book. For those new to the series, Amelia is trying to find out who murdered an antiques dealer - The cast includes Emerson, a brilliant and volatile archaeologist, of course his wife,Amelia, whom he calls Peabody, their young son, Ramses, and in this outing Ramses has his cat, The Cat Bastet, whom he would carry around his shoulders - All of the early books are great, but if you want to get into the 'meat and potatoes' of the series, try The Last Camel Died at Noon - It introduces Nefret to the series, and Emerson has never been so heroic - The early books are good because Ramses is a gifted child - but he tends to expound a lot - BUT the funny thing of it is, he seems to have a knack of saving his parents a lot - If the publishers are going to rerelease the books, great - When is the current book coming? The 'children' in this series are grown - and we can't wait - hello Ms. Peters??

Good transaction. Wrapped correctly. Would order products like this again. Elizabeth Peters is a wonderful author. This Amelia Peabody series got me out of my sick bed and into the world of fantasy.