Customer Reviews

The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamun

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I have read and much enjoyed P.C. Doherty's books of Ancient Egytptian historical fiction, so I thought I'd read this "scholarly" volume.

Doherty makes some excellent points in his explanation of Tut's death. I especially liked his opinion on whether or not Tut was murdered, which is much different from the view presented in Bob Brier's "Murder of Tutankhamun." I recommend reading both books as it is interesting to see the different conclusions drawn using the same physical evidence.

What I did not like was that this book was not edited very well. There are several typos and some awkward sentences (clauses piled upon clauses.) Also, the 4th chapter is extremely repetitive of points made earlier in the book.

And finally, the 5th chapter is a complete work of fiction built around historical events. Though I like historical fiction, it doesn't belong in a book where Doherty has previously discussed historical fact. Were I not aware of Doherty's previous works of fiction, I would wonder where this chapter came from.

This book is worth reading, but does have some minor flaws.

Poor King Tut! His death has now been reenacted in countless novels and at least two television specials. Doherty's book, as another reader has noted, is unscholarly, but in many ways no more so that Bob Brier's very similar book "The Murder of tutankhamen", and "Who Killed King Tut?: Using Modern Forensics to Solve a 3300-Year-Old Mystery" by Michael R. King, Gregory M. Copper, Don DeNevi, Joann Fletcher, GREGORY M. COOPER. The problem with all of these books is that they stretch the subject matter out to the breaking point, while most of the authors have no direct access to the body of the deceased king.