Now that World War I is over the Emerson family is reuniting in Egypt. Walter and Evelyn along with their daughter Lia, her husband David, and their two grandchildren are coming to Luxor to join Amelia and Emerson, their son Ramses, daughter-in-law Nefret and twin grandchildren Davie and Charla. It makes for a crowded couple of houses especially when Sethos and his daughter Molly are added to the bunch.

The crimes this time include the theft of some of the jewelry found in the princesses' tomb and the assumed theft of the treasures by the man hired to restore the jewelry who has disappeared. Then Ramses is kidnapped by a figure calling herself Hathor and there are various "accidents" happening to the Emersons and their colleagues. The most serious is a car accident that almost takes Selim's life.

There are so many events of a suspicious nature that Amelia is quite confused about the purpose and perpetrator of all of the chaos. Amelia's persistence and help from various members of her family do manage to solve the thing. But not before Nefret and Emerson are kidnapped by the villains and a daring rescue needs to be mounted.

This was another excellent episode in the long-running Amelia Peabody series. ( )

The encrimsoned sun sank slowly toward the crest of the Theban mountains. Another glorious Egyptian sunset burned against the horizon like fire in the heavens. In fact, I did not at that moment behold it, since I was facing east. I had seen hundreds of sunsets, however, and my excellent imagination supplied a suitable mental picture. As the sky over Luxor darkened, the shadows of the bars covering doors and windows lengthened and blurred, lying like a tiger's stripes across the two forms squatting on the floor. One of them said, "Spoceeva."
"Russian," Ramses muttered, scribbling on his notepad. " Yesterday it was Amharic. The day before it sounded like--"
"Gibberish, " said his wife.
"No," Ramses insisted, " It has to mean something. They use root words from a dozen languages, and they obviously understand one another. See? He's nodding. They are standing up. They are going... " His voice rose. "Leave the cat alone!"

I felt like I was being pulled a million directions with all the old characters and the new ones. Thus my interest and affection for the characters was minimized somewhat. Not that Peters has lost her sense of humor, or her cleverness. It's still there. But it would help to simplify things a bit. Maybe separate the family and have 2 mysteries going on rather than try and remember every little detail. The "additions" to the family circle are endearing and the character growth is believable.

Last pet peeve: Remember how in the earlier books there would be a side-plot romance? Bring it back. It brought an opportunity for lighter, less emotionally-clogged moments and amazingly brilliant characters. I miss Kevin and other stand-by characters that made the other books crackle with wit, humor, action, and (occasionally) good-humored annoyance. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2021/09/2021105-children-of-storm-elizabeth.html ( )

Synopsis: 'The 1919 season opens with the Vandergelts and Emersons packing the God's Wives treasures found (in the previous book) for Cyrus Vandergelt by his adopted son Bertie. Just after the Service d'Antiquités representative comes to inspect their work, several items disappear together with the conservator Cyrus had hired on Sethos's recommendation. The conservator's skeleton is found later in the desert, without the objects. These events coincide with a visit from Emerson's brother Walter, his wife Evelyn, their daughter Lia and her husband David (the Emersons' adoptive son), plus their small children.
Meanwhile, the Emersons meet up with Justin Fitzroyce, a young person with a strange mental malady, and his companion, François, who quickly develops a dislike of the family after Ramses mistakes his attentions to the boy for physical abuse. Justin is travelling with his grandmother, the elderly, sometimes confused, Mrs Fitzroyce; also with them is her companion, who turns out to be Maryam, the teenage daughter of Sethos, fallen on hard times. Amelia tries to befriend Maryam and helps her to rebuild her relationship with her father when he arrives to visit. She also reassures Maryam that the Emersons were not responsible for the death of the girl's mother, Bertha.
Along the way, the Emerson family is dogged by a series of mysterious events ranging from strange pranks to near-fatal accidents. Most of these seem to be directed at the Arab servants, including Selim, who is badly injured when a motor-car imported by Emerson crashes as a result of the wheel-nuts having been removed. The exception is a mystery attacker who targets Maryam. In addition, Ramses is temporarily taken prisoner and drugged by a mysterious woman disguised as the goddess Hathor. The same woman later reappears at the temple ruins during the night but the Emersons fail to apprehend her.
As the head of the Service arrives to take possession of the treasure for transport to Cairo, Nefret is captured by the criminal gang intent on stealing the treasure, and held prisoner on the dahabeeyah belonging to the FitzRoyces, as is Emerson when he impetuously comes to rescue her. "Justin" is revealed as Maryam's elder half-sister and "Mrs FitzRoyce" as an old associate of Bertha's. Through Emerson's efforts, Nefret escapes through a window of the boat, to be picked up by passing fishermen; meanwhile Maryam, who is implicated in the plot, shows her true loyalties by rescuing Emerson.
The final chase scene has Amelia, Rameses, Sethos, Selim, Daoud, Cyrus, Walter, and Bertie racing down-river armed to the teeth to rescue Nefret and Emerson, and is unlike any other scene in the Amelia series.'
Review: It was refreshing to have Emerson rescued rather than the other way around. ( )