At last, the Great War is over. Amelia, her distinguished Egyptologist husband Emerson and their extended family are preparing for another season of excavation in Egypt. To everyone's great joy their son Ramses and his wife Nefret have become parents. Amelia, enjoying her role of fond grandmother, hopes that for once, this will be a quiet year.
Trouble is brewing in Egypt at the close of 1914 and no one will escape the coming tempest. With the world at war, Amelia Peabody and her husband Radcliffe Emerson have returned to Cairo for another season of archaeological excavation—despite the increasing danger of an attack on the Suez Canal and on Egypt itself. A terrible conflict looms. A long-simmering love affair is resolved. A dastardly plot unfolds. There is no escaping the furious storm that now threatens the Emersons and their world—so Amelia plunges right into it.
At the start of this fourteenth adventure for Amelia, which continues the wartime theme begun in Lord of The Silent, it is New Year's Eve 1917.
Undeterred by world war and enemy submarines, Amelia and Emerson set sail once again for Egypt, where ghosts of an ancient past and spectres of a present-day evil hover silently over an inscrutable land.
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.
The narrative vividly brings to life the daily experiences of an ancient desert civilization, showcasing the rich sights and sounds of a long-lost culture. Through the expertise of internationally renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz, readers are invited to explore the intricacies of life thousands of years ago, offering a unique and immersive historical perspective.
The year is 1903, the place is Cairo, and it's time for Amelia's ninth adventure. She is asked for help by an old friend whose husband has fallen for a spiritualist; then a plea arrives from an expat colonel whose daughter is threatened by an unknown enemy, and Ramses undertakes an adventure that is guaranteed to turn his mother's hair white!
The Ape Who Guards the Balance begins in 1907 in England where Amelia is attending a suffragettes' rally outside the home of Mr. Geoffrey Romer of the House of Commons. It seems Romer is one of the few remaining private collectors of Egyptian antiquities, and a series of bizarre events at the protest soon embroil Amelia in grave personal danger. Suspecting that the Master Criminal, Sethos, is behind their problems, the Emerson Peabody's hasten to Egypt to continue their studies in the Valley of Kings where they soon acquire a papyrus of the Book of the Dead. As with past seasons, however, their archaeological expedition is interrupted. The murdered body of a woman is found in the Nile. Ramses, Radcliffe, and Amelia all have their theories as to the origin of the crime, but their own lives might soon be at stake if the cult of Thoth and their ancient book is, indeed, involved.
Set in the autumn of 1921, the Emerson family embarks on an archaeological expedition in Egypt, returning to the Valley of the Kings after the war. However, the mysterious death of a colleague raises questions for Amelia Peabody. She becomes determined to uncover whether it was a curse or if there are other sinister forces at play. The story intertwines adventure, intrigue, and the allure of ancient mysteries.
