Customer Reviews

Poisoner of Ptah (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries 6)

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If you have been following PC Doherty's Amerotke series, about a judge/ investigator for the Pharaoh, this is by far the book with the most depth to it. The plot is more developed and convoluted, and there are more characters. As with all of the series it is set in the ancient Egypt of Pharoah Hatusu, (about 1473-1458 BC), who is better known by the name of Hatshepsut and is most famous as the female Pharoah who ruled alone and not just as a figure-head, in a time of peace and prosperity. This is such an interesting time I wish Doherty would put more effort into the setting and the era and of how it must have been to have a woman ruler---everyone seems to take it for granted she was totally accepted, which seems to me as doubtful. Also, the question of her commoner lover, Senenmut---that is, everyone from her time to ours assumes he was her lover---of course he would have caused hate, envy and jealousy. It would be interesting to have some of the volumes cover these issues. Doherty covered the Akhenaten/Tutankhamun era so well in his trilogy "An Evil Spirit Out of the West", The Season of the Hyaena" and "The Year of the Cobra", I wish he would turn these rather light mystery novels into something of the sort as he did with the era of Pharaohs Akhenaten/Tutankhamun in the trilogy just mentioned. But, those were larger, in depth and more serious novels and this series is definitly more easy, quick, mysteries, the previous ones to be read at a couple of sittings, but never the less enjoyable. I also wish more effort was put into Amerotke, his wife and family. One never feels as though one really knows him even after all the books so far. I have little feeling if any of what he looks like for example, or of the real relationship between his wife and himself, she and the children are shadow characters to be pulled out every so often to assure us he has a happy family. Having said THAT though, Doherty does excell at making you feel you are IN ancient Egypt, at bringing to life the sights, sounds, images of the place.
In part the problem MAY be that the author is such a prolific writer, go to his web site, under several names he has written over 50 books, all set in historical eras, (he is a historian) but how anyone can keep up such a pace is mind boggling!! I wish he would slow down, settle on a time (such a my favorite ancient Egypt) and write a real masterpiece!!!
To clarify the order of the series of Amertoke is: 1.The Mask of Ra 2.The Horus Killings 3.The Anubis Slayings 4.Slayers of Seth 5. Assassins of Isis 6.Poisoner of Ptah. (All titles refer to an Egyptian god or goddess).

Book Club Review
The Poisoner of Ptah
P.C. Doherty

Our book club's book for February was THE POISONER OF PTAH, by P.C. Doherty. We chose this one because we have been wanting to read a historical mystery to take us away from the cold and misery of winter. A lot of good suggestions came up, but we decided to focus on ancient Egypt. We had read another Egyptian book last year (one of the Mamur Zapt titles) and we were very disappointed in that one, so we figured we should not give up on Egypt just because that book was not what we had hoped for.

By process of elimination, we arrived at this one, and we were glad we did.

At the signing of a peace treaty between Egypt and Libya, three people die violently as the result of a poisoning of their wine bowl. The murderer is suspected to be the notorious Poisoner of Ptah, who had been arrested and sent to a desert prison camp several years ago--but who, it turns out, has escaped and made his way back to Cairo to try to clear his good name. Our chief investigator is Amerotke, who is "Chief Judge of Egypt" and also detective. While we watch Amerotke unravel the case, we also learn a good deal about the politics of the time (with Egypt pretty much loathed by all its neighbors, who are envious of its wealth and status), as well as the personalities of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (called here "Hatusu") and her working-class lover, Senenmut. If these names sound slightly confusing, don't worry--you are not alone, which the author must have realized, because he very cleverly included a list of characters' names at the beginning of the book, and it is very helpful for about the first half.

That is a small complaint, however, as we really did enjoy this book. It was perhaps a bit slow to start, but the way Doherty evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of ancient Egypt is remarkable. Doherty also manages to juggle many strands of courtly intrigue with politics and the sort of "locked room" murder investigation, all while keeping the book moving at a nice clip. We quite liked Amerotke, who is a kind-hearted family man with a nice wife and two kids, and found him warm and smart. Perhaps we would have liked a bit deeper characterization of him, but this didn't interfere with our enjoyment of the book. We also found the character of the poisoner to be quite effectively drawn and enigmatic.

The working out of the mystery is a little less satisfying than the rest of the book--though it has been properly prepared for. We speculated that when a book is as rich a pageant as THE POISIONER OF PTAH, the resolution of the mystery is going to seem small in comparison.

Overall, we enjoyed the book, which we found to appeal to both the women and the men in our group, and we thought we would like to read more in the future. To be honest, I had not heard of P.C. Doherty before, but it turns out he is a very prolific writer who uses several pseudonyms, including Paul Doherty (those books take place in medieval times). I definitely will read more of him, as I felt the book was very absorbing, and several of our other members felt the same way.