Product Description

Guided only by a crumbling map that took the Peaboby-Emerson clan to Tarek's oasis a decade earler, they head for the Sudan. There Rames, now 19 years old, realises he must face up to his feeling for Nefret, while his mother and father confront terrible forces secretly arrayed against them.

Product Details

• Published on: 2005-04-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Intrepid archeologists Amelia Peabody, husband Emerson and son Ramses have shared numerous exciting adventures, but the 16th volume in MWA Grand Master Peters's bestselling series will have particular appeal for fans. The author fills in a gap in the chronological record (1907–1908) and revisits the hidden city of the Lost Oasis, whose discovery was recounted in The Last Camel Died at Noon (1991). The doughty explorers, including foster daughter Nefret, who is from the Lost Oasis, heed the call of a messenger purportedly from that realm's ruler, Tarek. Peters, as her many accolades would suggest, knows precisely what she is doing as she spins a tale of romance, derring-do, bravery and, of course, deceptions, betrayals and disguises in the classic tradition of H. Rider Haggard, if with tongue often in cheek. Familiar enemies surface (bureaucrats, soldiers of fortunes, despoilers of antiquities, etc.) and dog the group as they travel by ship, boat and camel from their English home to the remote desert location that will test their mettle once again. Peters's knowledge of ancient Egypt and the excavations and desecrations that accompanied early archeological attempts in the region allow her to dress her melodrama with authentic trappings that add greatly to the enjoyment.
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From AudioFile
A recently discovered journal of Egyptologist Amelia Peabody explores the missing episode (1907-1908) in the chronicles of Peabody; her scholar husband, Emerson; their son, Ramses; and their ward and Ramses's future bride, Nefret, taking them back to the Lost Oasis to help their friend, King Tarek. In this, the sixteenth book in the Peabody-Emerson series, Grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America Elizabeth Peters plunges her intrepid family into a ruse involving kidnapping, murder, and life-threatening danger, sparked by Amelia's quick-witted dialogue and Emerson's gruff grumbles of wisdom. The incomparable Barbara Rosenblat invests each character with a unique voice and personality. There is never confusion as to which character is being portrayed, and Rosenblat's timing is, as usual, flawless. If silent film star Lon Chaney was "the man of a thousand faces," Barbara Rosenblat is "the woman of a thousand voices." M.T.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
In an appealing change of pace, "the Grand Dame of the Historical Mystery" steps further back in the life of parasol-wielding Amelia Peabody and her family--a time long before Ramses and Nefret got hitched and Setho's real identity was revealed. It's a mere 10 years since Emerson, Peabody, and Ramses fled the opulent City of the Holy Mountain with 13-year-old Nefret, paving the way for young Tarek to become king. Now it appears that Tarek needs their help once again, and the family, Ramses and Nefret both grown, returns to the remote "Lost Oasis," where they have long been revered--only to find themselves victims of a ruse designed to help a usurper legitimize his shaky hold on the kingdom. As usual, the Emersons, who "attract farcical situations the way sugar draws flies," have plenty of intrigue to contend with, but "proper" Amelia rises to the occasion, exercising her unusual vocabulary (rampageous, sequestrian), her clever stratagems, and her talent for reining in her vociferous husband and her impetuous son in time to set things straight. A highly entertaining entry in a series that continues to delight. Stephanie Zvirin
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