Audiobook Review: The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters

The Mummy Case
Author: Elizabeth Peters
Narrator: Susan O'Malley
Series: Amelia Peabody (Book 3)
Publication: Blackstone Audio (November 15, 2002)
Length: 10 hours

Description: The irascible husband of Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody demonstrates again why he has been nicknamed "Father of Curses." Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, Emerson is awarded instead the "pyramids" of Mazghunah: countless mounds of rubble in the midst of nowhere. Nothing in this barren spot seems worthy of interest - until an antiquities dealer is murdered in his Cairo shop.

When a sinister Egyptian spotted at the crime scene turns up in Mazghunah, Amelia can't resist following his trail. There's a mysterious scrap of papyrus and a missing mummy case to investigate, while she keeps at least one eye on their precocious son Ramses and his Egyptian cat. But the digging turns truly dangerous when Amelia and Emerson look for answers in an ancient tomb - one that could become their grave.

My Thoughts: This third Amelia Peabody adventure is the first where Ramses has a role. He is Emerson and Amelia's precocious son and has a character which stands up nicely to Amelia's. Emerson was denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor but given a permit to dig at Mazghunah. This was a terrible disappointment since the "pyramids" were almost completely flattened and the major features of the area were old cemeteries dating from much later that the period of the pyramids of Dahshoor.

However, that doesn't mean that things would proceed in a quiet, boring way. From the discovery of the body of an antiquities dealer in Cairo to thieves breaking in to attempt to steal something to the emergence of a Master Criminal, Amelia's season is destined to be filled with activity.

Ramses adds excitement of his own when he steals a lion cub from a cruising German lady and does his own digging at Dahshoor. His digging is fortuitous since it is his explorations that allow him to find his mother and father after the Master Criminal's henchmen have dropped them into a water filler burial chamber in one of the pyramids of Dahshoor.

The story also references religious issues. First of all, the conflict between the Muslims and the Copts and then the arrival of fanatical American missionaries raises the tensions in the area and gives the Master Criminal room to do his thieving. 

I like that these stories are told from the eccentric viewpoint of Amelia Peabody Emerson. I like her relationship with her husband and her son. This was altogether a fun story to listen to. Susan O'Malley does an excellent job with all the various characters. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.