A bit of The Mummy, a bit of a stand-alone Agatha Christie, the adventures of Amelia Peabody feature a plain, spinster along the lines of Jane Eyre. Albeit a more sprightly Jane Eyre what with the shooting, escavating and mummy-hunting.

Let me back up a bit with the death of Amelia’s father, she decides to use her share of inheritance to go on a whirlwind tour of ancient ruins in honor of her and her father’s shared love of archeology. It’s there that she saves the fallen English-girl, Evelyn Forbes, whose lost her virtue and her fortune. Luckily, Amelia has no concerns for high society concern of virtue and invites her to be her companion in Egypt.

From there, they come upon the Emerson brothers who are digging up a new royal tomb and Evelyn’s amorous cousin, Lucas, who wants Evelyn’s hand in marriage. Also the mummy that is following them around and impervious to bullets.

This was a fun novel as you cna tell by the other book franchises I name-dropped in the beginning. Even though it was written in the 70s, Peters does an excellent job of writing in the 20th century vernacular with the focus on ladies’ virtue, the white saviorism among the British towards the Egyptians where they feel bad about how they’ve been abused by “bad” British people while also dismissing their ways as uneducated and superstitious, and the disdain towards Italians (so if you are in doubt of who the villains are, there’s a big clue).

Yet it is also quite funny like the slap-slap-kiss between the elder Emerson brother (called Emerson because Amelia refuses to call him by his first name) where they clearly like each other under the antagonism such as Amelia admiring his broad shoulders under the guise of being a student of anatomy. While Emerson blusters that she’s the most unladylike lady ever, it’s clear he loves the way she acts as his equal and fights his gruffness. It has entertaining quips between them that add levity.

The younger Emerson, Walter, and Evelyn form a cute beta couple while her amarous cousin, Lucas, adds potential will-they-won’t-they conflict. The reveal of the who the mummy is and why he’s “haunting” the escavation plot is predictable but Peters’ strength lies in her real-knowledge as an Egyptianologist and archeologist that lend real imagery and feeling to her prose.

Nice book