Audiobook Review: The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters

The Serpent on the Crown
Author: Elizabeth Peters
Narrator: Barbara Rosenblat
Series: The Amelia Peabody Series (Book 17)
Publication: HarperAudio (March 31, 2005)
Length: 12 hours and 7 minutes

Description: New York Times best-selling master of suspense, Elizabeth Peters, brings an exotic world of adventure, intrigue, and danger to vivid life, in a tale as powerful as ancient Egypt.

The Emersons have returned to the Valley of the Kings in 1922 and Amelia Peabody and her family look forward to delving once more into the age-old mysteries buried in Egypt's ever-shifting sands. But a widow's strange story, and even stranger request, is about to plunge them into a storm of secrets, treachery, and murder.

The woman, a well-known author, has come bearing an ill-gotten treasure, a golden likeness of a forgotten king, which she claims is cursed. She insists it has taken the life of her husband and unless it is returned to the tomb from which it was stolen, more people will die.

Amelia and her clan resolve to uncover the secrets of the statue's origins, setting off on a trail that twists and turns in directions they never anticipated, and, perhaps, toward an old nemesis with unscrupulous new designs. But each step toward the truth seems to reveal another peril, suggesting to the intrepid Amelia that the curse is more than mere superstition. And its next victim might well be a beloved family member...or Amelia Peabody herself.

A novel filled with riveting suspense, pulse-pounding action, and the vibrant life of a fascinating place and time, The Serpent on the Crown is the jewel in the crown of a grand master, the remarkable Elizabeth Peters.

My Thoughts: It is 1922 and the Emersons are in Egypt when the widow of an antiquities collector asks Emerson to take charge of an artifact from his collection. She is convinced that the golden statue is cursed. Emerson is intrigued by the statue and wants to find out where it came from. It is of a time period that is the same as Tutankhamun's though his tomb has yet to be discovered. Common wisdom believes that there are no undiscovered tombs remaining in the Valley of the Kings.

Emerson was long since banned from excavating in the Valley of the Kings but has gotten a toehold when he was allowed to reexamine KV55 which had been excavated in a haphazard manner years earlier. Meanwhile, Ramses is intrigued by papyrus fragments from one the other sites that Emerson has charge of. 

When the widow disappears Amelia's first thought is that it is a publicity stunt designed to reignite her career as the author of sensational novels. It leaves her stepson and stepdaughter as suspects in her disappearance. 

Then the attacks begin on Ramses' life. There are other suspicious incidents too regarding both the woman and the statue. Even with many "little lists" Amelia and her family are having trouble figuring out who wants what. 

This was another enjoyable episode in the Amelia Peabody series. 

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