Elizabeth Peters was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. She lives in a historic farmhouse in western Maryland.
The Amelia Peabody books may or may not be an acquired taste, personally I love them. They are set in Victorian times when there were still very strict rules of etiquette and polite behaviour was the norm. Although most of the books are set in Egypt, in the desert under very trying conditions and extremely hot weather the `English' way of life was still expected to be adhered to, sometimes with quite hilarious consequences.
Amelia Peabody is Elizabeth Peters' best loved and brilliant creation, a thoroughly Victorian feminist who takes the stuffy world of archaeology by storm with her no nonsense dress sense and forthright opinions.
Once again Amelia Peabody and her family return to their beloved Egypt. They are excited that they have a license to excavate a tomb in the spot that all archaeologists would love to dig, the Valley of the Kings. However they are not working on the exciting find of a new tomb but on clearing one that has already been opened. Emerson is approached by an American, Colonel Bellingham, to come to work for him, but Emerson works only for himself and is not slow in telling the Colonel this. To complicate matters the Colonel's daughter, Dolly needs someone to chaperone her and sets her sights on Ramses (in this book Ramses, Nefret and David are at the young adult stage).
The family is also passed a note warning them to stay away from a tomb that does not exist. Amelia and Emerson realise that there may be a hidden tomb, as the note suggests. Eventually their search brings them to the tomb and it contains a mummy. But this is no ancient Egyptian. This person had died and been mummified in the last decade . . .