Autumn 1921. The Peabody-Emerson clan are enjoying a fruitful period of excavation in Egypt. But when they hear the alarming tale of a man's mysterious death their digging turns to detecting. His widow is convinced her husband was the victim of a curse and implores the Emersons to find and return the small 'deadly' statue that killed him to the tomb from which it was stolen -- before it claims another life. From bitter experience the Emersons know it would be a serious mistake to start chasing tomb robbers. But Amelia and family soon start to find the curse may be more real than ever imagined...

Convinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, eminent Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his intrepid wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Having been banned forever from the East Valley, Emerson, against Amelia's advice, has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights. But Emerson's trickery has backfired, and his insistent interest in the site has made his rivals all the more determined to keep the Emerson clan away.Powerless to intervene but determined to stay close to the unattainable tomb, the family returns to Luxor and prepares to continue their dig in the less promising West Valley--and to watch from the sidelines as Carter and Carnarvon "discover" the greatest Egyptian treasure of all time: King Tut's tomb. But before their own excavation can get underway, Emerson and his son, Ramses, find themselves lured into a trap by a strange group...

A strange twist of fate brings Elizabeth Jones face to face with her idol, the brilliant, eccentric historian Margaret Rosenberg, at the Copenhagen Airport. An even stranger accident makes Elizabeth the esteemed scholar's new private assistant. But luck can go from good to bad in an instant -- and less than twenty-four hours later, the great lady is kidnapped by persons unknown. Suddenly desperate in a foreign land, Elizabeth must cast her lot with Rosenberg's handsome, insufferable son Christian in hopes of finding her vanished benefactor. On a trail that leads from modern wonders to ancient mystery, a determined young woman and an arrogant "prince" must uncover shocking secrets carefully guarded in the beautiful Danish city. And they must survive a mysterious affair that is turning darker and deadlier by the hour.

EDITORIAL REVIEW: In the Sudan to search for Viscount Blacktower's son and his new bride, Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, her husband Emerson, and their son, Ramses, become caught in web of treachery, and their survival depends on Amelia's sleuthing skills. Reprint. *NYT. *

A Christmas slaying, an Egyptian puzzle, and a night in the home of a stranger—three chillers from the New York Times–bestselling "grandmaster" of mystery (Publishers Weekly). A thriller writer is embroiled in a real-life whodunit when a friend drops dead in front of her, with her own hatpin impaled in his back. The violation of a sealed West Bank tomb, its rock walls intact, provides a Thebes investigator with a mystifying conundrum. And two sisters take shelter from a storm in a shuttered old house at the end of a country road . . . only to discover they're not alone. Settle in with this trio of short stories—available for the first time in a single volume—from one of the most popular mystery writers of all time. With her customary sharp wit, historical expertise, and effortless knack for freezing the blood, Elizabeth Peters "never fails to entertain" (The Plain Dealer).

She may be a bestselling author, but ex-librarian Jacqueline Kirby's views on the publishing biz aren't fit to print. In fact, she's thinking of trading celebrity for serenity and a house far away from fiendish editors and demented fans when her agent whispers the only words that could ever make her stay: Naked in the Ice. Seven years ago, this blockbuster skyrocketed Kathleen Darcy to instant fame. Now the author's heirs are looking for a writer to pen the sequel. It's an opportunity no novelist in her right mind would pass up, and there's no doubting Jacqueline's sanity...until she starts digging through the missing woman's papers--and her past. Until she gets mixed up with Kathleen's enigmatic lover. Until a series of nasty accidents convince her much too late that someone wants to bring Jacqueline's story--and her life--to a premature end.

A masked stranger offers to reveal an Egyptian queen's lost tomb...and Amelia Peabody and her irascible archeologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, are intrigued, to say the least. When the guide mysteriously disappears before he tells his secret, the husband-and-wife team sail to Thebes to follow his trail, helped-and hampered-by their teenage son, Ramses, and beautiful ward, Nefret. But before the sands of time shift very far, all will be risking their lives foiling murderers, kidnappers, grave robbers, and ancient curses. And the Hippopotamus Pool? It's a legend of war and wits that Amelia is translating, one that alerts her to a hippo of a different type-a nefarious, overweight art dealer who may become her next archenemy!From Publishers WeeklyA menacing cloud hangs over the eighth adventure of 19th-century archeologists Amelia Peabody and her husband, Radcliffe Emerson (seen before in The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog). Unfortunately, the cloud rains suspense only in the book's final quarter, long after the warning of a dire threat has paled. In Cairo, Amelia and Emerson are visited by a mysterious man who shows them a scarab ring and claims that it is the symbol of the High Priest of Queen Tetisheri, whom he has sworn to protect. He offers to lead them to her tomb, thereby passing his "sacred duty" onto Emerson. But after the man acts as if he's poisoned and then vanishes, the couple dismiss his words. They are soon reminded of his visit when a notorious antiquities dealer, whom they liken to a hippopotamus because of his girth, warns them to watch whom they trust. With their preteen son, Ramses, and their ward, Nefret, the family travels to western Thebes in search of Tetisheri's tomb. There, after a series of minor mishaps, Ramses is abducted, requiring Amelia and Emerson to begin what seems a nearly impossible task to get him back. The melodramatic 19th-century writing style studded with Amelia's sly wit makes this series unique to the subgenre of historical mysteries. Major ad/promo. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalA masked stranger pinpoints the location of an Egyptian queen's lost tomb for Amelia and husband Emerson and then disappears. The pair set off in search of queen Tetisheri's tomb, encountering all the usual amusing situations, disguises, villains, and murderers. A necessary purchase.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An idealistic young woman finds working a political campaign can be murder in this romantic suspense novel by "a master storyteller" (Mary Higgins Clark). Young Erin Hartsock arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition—and little interest in politics. However, when she's offered a position on a congresswoman's campaign for the Senate, she's more than happy to flee her dead-end job to take on what she expects will be boring administrative work . . . But as the campaign heats up, disturbing events follow. There's a string of dangerous fires, a violent attack, and a seemingly accidental death. Erin begins to wonder about her colleagues all while they grow suspicious of her. Someone's got a secret—and with the election looming, Erin must quickly uncover who's behind the chaos before she becomes a prime candidate for murder. Previously published under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels Praise for New York...

An assistant curator of Munich's National Museum, Vicky Bliss is no expert on Egypt, but she does have a Ph.D. in solving crimes. So when an intelligence agency offers her a luxury Nile cruise if she'll help solve a murder and stop a heist of Egyptian antiquities, all 5'11" of her takes the plunge. Vicky suspects the authorities really want her to lead them to her missing lover, the art thief and master of disguises she knows only as "Sir John Smythe." And right in the shadow of the Sphinx she spots him. . . with his new flame. Vicky is so furious at this romantic stab-in-the-back, not to mention the sudden arrival of her meddling boss, Herr Dr. Schmidt, that she may overlook a danger as old as the pharaohs and as unchanging. . . a criminal who hides behind a mask of charm while moving in for the kill.