The exotic allure of mysterious mummies, perfect fit for murder, romance, adventure; basically plunk a mummy in the middle of any story to spice it up.
This Mummy Monday is dedicated to a book series that get to use that plot device a lot, seeing how it's set in Egypt at the turn of the twentieth century. Amelia Peabody is a suffragist and female scholar at a time when it was it was revolutionary to be so. She and her husband Emerson are egyptologists whose excavation expeditions regularly get interrupted by kidnappings, murders, spies, romance and mysteries to solve.
The author Barbara Mertz writing as Elizabeth Peters has her heroine Amelia Peabody live in a world that is changing. Peabody is a spokesperson for modern ideas who solves the problem of being ignored because she is a woman by barrelling through and ignoring the opposition whenever she can. In Egypt at the time respect for scientific methods is uneven, suffering from prejudice and preferential treatment. The detailed analysis and efforts at preservation that prevail today were not always the norm back then. Mummy unwrapping as a social event was still a thing when Peabody started her adventures. Then as in now media attention and fact can be at odds with each other. The novels are well researched, with interesting details on the archaeological practices along with society of the day. Historical figures such as Howard Carter make appearances and some events are based on real discoveries.
That kind of mystery adventure, a close cousin to the cozy genre, uses humour and action to let the female be a character that is both active and modern in a way that readers can recognize and with which they are familiar. It is, after all,the point of view that equality is a right that they are familiar with. Having Peabody be an early feminist is part of the fun, as identification with a female character that seems to be inconsequential but is in fact heroic is part of the attraction of reading female-driven mysteries.
Barbara Mertz was an egyptologist herself who wrote two books on the subject. She was a prolific author; the Peabody series comprises twenty novels. Mertz also wrote other series and stand alone books in mystery, suspense and gothic. She also founded Malice Domestic, a mystery writers convention and anthology series.
If you like your adventure with a bit of wit, a bit of silliness and a bit of history (and mummies) give her a try.
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