Seeing a Large Cat

Yet another sparkling instalment in the Amelia Peabody series! I've already been a fan of this series since I read the first book some years ago (and here we are on book 9!), was less than enthused about Books 7 and 8 which I thought were fairly average, but this Book 9 has restored all my confidence and love for the Emerson family.

The Amelia Peabody series features the Emersons, a Victorian-English family of archaeologists and Egyptologists, who travel to Egypt to excavate at different sites almost every year. Amelia Peabody herself is our headstrong, feminist, sometimes infuriating but almost always charming protagonist, matriarch of the Emerson family. In this instalment, we see the Emersons get blindsided by a mysterious anonymous note asking them to investigate a dig site, Tomb Twenty-A, which doesn't seem to exist on the map. The adventure leads them to discover hidden, recent mummies, a man who was supposed to have gone missing hiding in disguise, a charlatan of a lady, and a whole host of other minor characters, including the Emersons' beloved Egyptian staff.

Amelia remains just as hilarious as ever. Her character and wit comes through so strongly in the first person perspective written by Peters, one of the best examples of character-writing that I would be able to think of. But after 8 books of having Amelia as the one and only perspective we experience the story from, it threw me off a little when the narrative was interspersed (though not abundantly) with excerpts from a Manuscript H that allows the readers to follow her now-adult child Ramses and her now-adult wards, Nefret and David, in order to witness their going-ons that Amelia may not be privy to.

Ramses is another point of interest in this novel. Now sixteen, Ramses has grown into a mini-Emerson. In my head, he's still that annoying (but endearing) little boy of six or seven who sends Amelia into fits with his verbosity, so it's rather shocking when he makes his appearance with a moustache and has a female character set her cap at him for the entire book, or when he starts smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey. His previous childhood verbosity has also been replaced by an extensive placidity; Amelia is always describing his face as looking “bland and blank”, like he's retreated into a shell and refuses to show any more emotions. It's kinda sad, I almost feel like a mother who can't admit that her little boy is all grown up and we won't be getting little-boy Ramses back anymore. Nevertheless, this reticent teenage Ramses is clearly still navigating the treacherous waters between childhood and manhood, and consequently as a reader I can't quite get a grasp on his personality, which made him feel like he's lost his spark a little in this instalment.

Nefret was amazing. Having had such an unusual childhood, it is not unexpected that she should grow up to be an unusual lady of eighteen. Unlike Ramses, though, Nefret seems to be surer of herself - possibly a consequence of having seemingly had spent more time with Amelia and Emerson. Sometimes in this novel, it almost feels like they're closer to her and look after her even more so than they do Ramses. Emerson certainly looks upon her as her daughter. It was sometimes a little awkward when they do refer to her as their daughter, and when Ramses and Nefret refer to each other as “brother and sister” because, while I haven't yet spoiled myself for the rest of the series, I'm pretty convinced that they're going to end up marrying each other at some point. After all, even at book 9, I'm not even halfway through this 20++ book long series.

IMO the charm and attraction of all Amelia Peabody novels is the immersive Egyptian setting, the growth and change that each character and their relationship dynamics go through as the series progresses, and, of course, the sharp wit and humour of Amelia's voice. Though each book has a central mystery, I've always felt that the mystery usually just provides an entertaining backdrop and a driving force to get the characters moving about and interacting, but it's never really quite the priority of the writing here. This book is no exception. Don't get me wrong, the mystery was entertaining enough (as it usually is in these books), but the denoument was never meant to be an Agatha Christie level of surprise and the book is clear that it's invested in the human element more so than the action. Sure, there were a few plot twists relating to the mystery that I didn't see coming and those were fun enough, but ultimately, that's not what I go into each Amelia Peabody book for.

Overall, still a recommendation for anyone who already loves Amelia Peabody. If you're new to the series, this might be a serviceable enough book if you're just looking for a random dose of Victorian adventurers in 19th century Egypt, but I'd really recommend starting from Book 1 for the full flavour of this magnificent ensemble of characters to come through.