The Falcon at the Portal : An Amelia Peabody Mystery

Amelia and family have arrived in Egypt for the 1911 archeological season -- after the marriage of young Ramses' best friend David to Amelia's niece Lia. But trouble finds them immediately when David is accused of selling ancient artifacts. While Amelia and company try to clear his name and expose the real culprit, the body of an American is found at the bottom of their excavation shaft. As accusations of drug dealing and moral misconduct fly, a child of mysterious antecedents sparks a crisis that threatens to tear the family apart. Amelia brings her brilliant powers of deduction to bear, but someone is shooting bullets at her -- and coming awfully close!

British-style mystery in historical settings just doesn't get any better than that of Grand Dame Elizabeth Peters and her spicy sleuthing Egyptologist Amelia Peabody. Peters's latest, The Falcon at the Portal, begins when Amelia and her family arrive in Egypt for their annual archaeological excursion. Trouble erupts, however, when a Peabody relative is accused of selling really expensive, and really fake, Egyptian artifacts. Now it's up to Amelia to clear his good name and find the real culprit. Can she do it?

New York Times Book Review

...between Amelia Peabody and Indiana Jones, it's Amelia—in wit an daring—by a landslide.

In this latest Amelia Peabody mystery there's more trouble in store for our intrepid Egyptologist. This time it is of a distinctly personal nature. Her niece's new, Egyptian husband stands accused of forging priceless antiquities. Is he guilty or merely the fall guy for some unscrupulous villain? Meanwhile, matters are complicated by the arrival of Amelia's detestable nephew who begins an ardently amorous pursuit of her son's wife, Nefret .. In Egypt to excavate pyramids, Amelia Emerson and her husband investigate an attempt to kill their son, Ramses. The incident appears connected to a friend of Ramses who is selling forged artifacts. "What is it you find so amusing, my dear?"