Mystery surrounds the legendary Egyptian queen Nefertiti bust discovered in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. While the world may never know how the artifact ended up in Germany, we now understand the roles the great archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson and his equally eminent wife, Amelia Peabody, had in its discovery. Following the events detailed in The Falcon at the Portal, Amelia and her family are gearing up for another excavation season. No sooner do they check in to their Cairo hotel than a man tries to kill Amelia. While accustomed to danger, she and her husband must determine who is trying to get rid of them this time. After their son Ramses reports that someone tried to kill him, their adopted daughter Nefret figures out that the family of her former husband, Geoffrey Godwin, are seeking revenge for his death. When legendary author Peters died in 2013, she left behind a partially finished manuscript for this book. Her friend and fellow mystery writer Hess agreed to finish the story. Hess tries too hard to emulate Peter's style and, at times, the writing veers toward parody. VERDICT Despite a few flaws, devoted Amelia Peabody fans (this reviewer counts herself as one) will read this book with tears in their eyes as they bid farewell to these much-loved characters (and author). [See Prepub Alert, 1/30/17.]-Lynnanne -Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The final novel in the Amelia Peabody mystery series features outspoken archaeologist Amelia and company dodging assassins while searching from Cairo to Amama for the stolen bust of Queen Nefertiti. Almost as challenging as Amelia's quest is reader Rosenblat's task of giving voice to these larger-than-life characters with charm and credibility intact. The actor, who plays Miss Rosa on Orange is the New Black, smartly captures Amelia's husband Radcliffe's irascibility and bombast without edging into snobbery. Her mirroring of the fragile relationship between moody son Ramses and aloof daughter-in-law Nefrit, caught just after the demise of their hasty marriage, is exemplary. And her silken, unruffled voice for"master criminal" Sethos fits both his good-bad-guy status and his flirtatious nature. He, like everyone except the assassins, has fallen under the spell of the novel's protagonist-narrator Amelia, whom Rosenblat presents with all of her romantic, confident, stubborn, feminist, witty, and intelligent flags flying. A Morrow hardcover. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Loyal fans of the Amelia Peabody mysteries will welcome this final episode, accurately reported by Peters' friend and fellow mystery writer Hess. The death of Peters (pen name of Barbara Mertz) in 2013 signaled the end of the much-loved 20-book series. Hess has done an excellent job of carrying the narrative forward in Peters' fast-paced, entertaining style, portraying the series' palpable sense of adventure and the affection and witty repartee between Egyptologist Peabody and her husband, Radcliffe Emerson. The Emersons are back in Amarna, Egypt, for the 1912-13 excavation season, where the famous bust of Nefertiti has been discovered by Ludwig Borchardt. Problems occur when the bust disappears, then reappears in duplicate. Amelia and Emerson are so distracted by the implications of this event that a gang of monocle-sporting killers seems a minor inconvenience. Everyone in the familiar Peabody-Emerson cast is present or accounted for, tying up loose ends with panache and optimism. Series devotees may choose to branch out with the exploits of Tasha Alexander's similarly clever Lady Emily Ashton.--Baker, Jen Copyright 2017 Booklist

The 19th installment of the adventures of an archaeological family facing a vendetta as they chase a real-life artifact.Life is never dull for Amelia Peabody in her marriage to professor Radcliffe Emerson, the greatest Egyptologist of the 19th centuryand now the 20th. Even a bubble bath in Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo is anything but restful when a man bursts in on Amelia, utters "You.Murder!," and falls dead with a knife in his back. When Emerson rushes to his wife and searches the corpse's pocket, he finds a card with the name "Judas" written on it. Emerson also trips over a small carved wooden head of Akhenaton, the Heretic Pharaoh, whose capital city, Tell el-Amarna, is the next stop but one on the Emersons' itinerary. Reunited there with their son, Ramses, they learn that a man had tried to kill him, too, and that another target on Judas' hit list is the chief excavator of the Amarna site, Herr Morgenstern, who's been behaving oddly and taken himself off to Cairo. With the discovery and disappearance of a beautiful painted carving of Nefertiti comes the realization that the Emersons' foster daughter's late husband's five half brothers have sworn vengeance on her adoptive family. One brother was the Judas who was stabbed in the back; Guy (for Fawkes) dies in his attempt to blow up the Emersons; Cromwell's namesake is decapitated when he tries to kill Ramses. Subsequent murders, abductions, flash floods, camel-back races, and interventions by a supposed nemesis alternate with frequent breaks for tea, sandwiches, and whiskey as the Emersons wonder what fate's in store for them and their remaining assassins, Absalom and Flitworthy. Hess (Pride vs. Prejudice, 2015, etc.) undoubtedly had a daunting task in completing the final manuscript of the late Egyptologist Peters (A River in the Sky, 2010, etc.). Fans will cherish the legacy; newcomers will be forgiven for fidgeting through the busy plot and arch humor. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.