The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody #3)

The Mummy Case it’s the third book by Elizabeth Peters in the Amelia Peabody series, which finds Amelia and Emerson in a rather boring setting, digging up places that are simply not worth their time, as Radcliff Emerson kindly comments.

He’d rather prefer to excavate the Black Pyramid at Dahshoor, and not it’s shadow located close enough, but not quite within his reach, at Mazghunah, which is a simple burial ground from a later period than Radcliff loves to spend his time with.

The only highlight of their entire archaeological expedition is Walter (Ramses as he is routinely called), their cute (and naughty) 4 going on 5 years old little boy who was finally taken along on the journey since he is now old enough for the trip. It’s his first journey on a dig!

Of course since there wouldn’t be a book created if the entire expedition turned out to be a bore, things did happen throughout – we meet a Master Criminal (not yet mentioned so in this particular book), Amelia finds troubles all along, is robbed while trying to catch the Master Criminal’s smuggling ring, while trying to connect a suspicious death of an antiques dealer to the said criminal ring.

However, I found that it’s not so much the plot that kept me reading. It’s the characters. They’re funny, at times hilarious, and now with the introduction of Ramses, wow Amelia does have a “load” to deal with! Ramses is not your typical well-behaved boy. He’s single-minded, precocious and spoiled. I’d love him as a neighbor’s kid, but definitely not as my own!

And speaking of Emerson, he has his hands full too – not only with his dig but also with his son and his trouble-seeking wife, who just can’t let things be. If Amelia even smells something rotten, she will all go detective on it until she solves the mystery.

A very fun read, and I actually found myself enjoying this book in the series more than the previous one. As I’ve read all the books in the Amelia Peabody series, I do recommend that you start them from the first one going on forward, else you will miss on so much of the character development and fun.