THE MUMMY CASE
by Elizabeth Peters
Fun seems to be guaranteed whenever the prolific Peters brings Amelia Peabody (Curse of the Pharaohs, etc.) back for another 19th-century mix of archaeology, comedy, and murder-mystery. This time the Victorian Wonder Woman is in Cairo, where she finds the murdered body of antiquities dealer Abd el Affi—and catches a glimpse of a likely suspect. . . who turns up later as a worker at Nazghunah, site of the latest dig for Amelia and her Egyptologist-husband, handsome and forthright Radcliffe Emerson. Could the presence of a probable killer have a link to someone in the neighborhood? Amelia considers several possibilities: a Frenchman named De Morgan is working at the nearby Pyramids of Dashoor; a menancing Copt priest is in a neighboring village—as is a Christian missionary sect headed by fanatical, unprepossessing Brother Ezekiel (an American); and hovering in the background are a voluptuous Bavarian baroness and a monocled prince. Then, however, Amelia's chief suspect is found dead, strange things are happening with mummy cases. . . and there'll be perilous tangles before Amelia exposes all. But the sleuthing here, as usual, is a minor attraction—as Peters again comes up with witty period ambience, good-naturedly ironic comedy (featuring Amelia's small son Ramses, a lovable monster of towering erudition), and a crisp sense of style that rarely flags.