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Amelia Peabody's Egypt

The Amelia Peabody Series
The Mummy Case

At last, Ramses is old enough to survive Egypt, but will Egypt be able to survive Ramses?  Taking John the footman to watch over him, may not be enough.

When the family checks in at Shepheard's in Cairo, they begin to hear rumors of "The Master", a dark figure who has taken control of the local antiquities market. Emerson has a strong objection to the sale of antiquities and tries to ignore the dealers, when possible.  

But Amelia takes a less adamant view and seeks to reform them, so she begins nosing around the suk with Ramses in tow. And the consequences are fatal for one of the antiquities dealers.  Emerson hastily moves the family out of town to the new dig site to avoid further distractions. The dig site is a disappointment to Amelia.

Emerson, as is his habit, has waited until the last minute to seek a firman for a dig site. Amelia has a love of pyramids, and he tries to soften the blow of his assigned site by pointing out that the pile of rubble once was a pyramid, and it might have an underground structure that Amelia can crawl around in to her heart's content.  

Unfortunately, the site is near the magnificent pyramids of Dashur, and Amelia and Ramses find it difficult to keep their minds on the boring Roman period cemetery that Emerson insists on digging first.  Amelia valiantly catalogues and stores the Roman mummy cases and doesn't even notice when an extra one appears in the storeroom. The attempt on her life and the ructions at the local village are harder to ignore.  And Ramses has taken to going off on his own and "digging".

Amelia becomes intrigued by the rumors of "The Master Criminal" and continues to  pursue her own little sideline in inquiries, which seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest. The compound is attacked and Amelia goes "berserk" defending Ramses from the attackers who seem to believe that Ramses has something worth stealing. 

Is it all about the  Mummy Case which seems to be the center of all the action, being stolen, stored surreptitiously and stolen again?

Finally, the thieves become desperate, and Amelia and Emerson are abducted and dumped deep inside a pyramid. And that, gentle reader is as far as I am taking you in this synopsis.... 

Peters weaves the personalities of the famous archaeologists of the time and details of actual discoveries into the story, leaving the reader feeling that they, too, have been to Egypt and had an adventure.