Part of Amelia Peabody, book 5
First published 2000
A night watchman lies dead in the British Museum, his face twisted with terror beneath the shadow of an ancient mummy. Officials blame a nineteenth dynasty curse, but Egyptologist Amelia Peabody suspects something far more human. She has solved mysteries across two continents and knows that fear alone rarely kills. Now back in London with her archaeologist husband Emerson and their clever son Ramses, Amelia cannot resist this puzzle. The dead guard's expression tells a story, but not the one museum authorities want to hear. As Amelia digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding the death, she discovers that modern curses can prove just as deadly as ancient ones. The killer who struck in the museum's halls now hunts through London's fog shrouded streets. Amelia has made herself a target, but she will not abandon her pursuit of the truth, even when the hunter becomes the hunted.
Genres: 20th-century, adventure, crime, archaeology, detective, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, family-dynamics, historical-mystery
Setting: British Museum, London
Period: 19th Century
389 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Avon