The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters

The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters --- 350 pages

This is the seventeenth book in the popular Amelia Peabody mystery series by the late great Elizabeth Peters.

It is 1922, and the winds of nationalist fervor are blowing hard against the status quo of European domination in Egypt, where the British and the French are vying for control of the country and its ancient antiquities. Amelia and her husband, the great Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson, and their extended family and friends have returned to Egypt for another season of excavation. The Countess Magda von Ormond, a melodramatic novelist with an eye for publicity, brings them a solid gold ancient statue of unknown antecedents acquired by her late husband. She claims the statue is cursed and brings death to its possessors, and she wants the Emersons to find out where it came from and return it to the tomb from which it was stolen. Only then, she insists, will she be safe.

Of course the Emersons don't believe in curses or the Countess Magda's histrionics, but they do believe the statue is genuine. In fact Emerson is convinced the statue could lead him to the find of a lifetime, an undiscovered tomb hidden in the Valley of the Kings.

Another great story from one of the Grand Masters of Mystery. Elizabeth Peters was one of the pseudonyms of American writer Barbara Mertz (1927-2013). Mertz received her Ph.D. in Egyptology in 1952 from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. She published several scholarly books on ancient Egypt in addition to her work as a novelist. The twenty books of her Amelia Peabody series cover what is considered the "Golden Age" of Egyptian archeology, from the 1880s through the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

Storm Front by John Sandford

Storm Front: A Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford --- 376 pages

This is Sandford's seventh Virgil Flowers novel, a spin off from his best selling Prey series, now 25 books strong and counting. Virgil is a laidback Minnesota good old boy who works as an investigator for Sandford's Lucas Davenport in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the Prey novels. Virgil being a field agent, has a little looser attitude than his boss Davenport, and the spin off series reflects that.

In this book Sandford says he's poking a little good-natured fun of Dan Brown and similar authors who send their characters into murky labyrinths of worldwide conspiracies in search of centuries-old secret talismans of mystic power.

Click HERE to watch an interview with Sandford where he talks about Dan Brown and Storm Front.

But as it turns out, Sandford started his writing career in journalism, first in the Army and then at newspapers around the Midwest (including a stint at the newspaper in Cape Girardeau MO). He won one Pulitzer Prize and was a finalist for another. He left journalism after his first novel was published, and has made his living as a novelist ever since. He also has an interest in archeology and the Middle East, and has been funding an archeological dig in Israel for some years. Next year there will be a major exhibit of the findings in Jerusalem. So those parts of the book are based on personal experience.

Click HERE to visit Sandford's web site and find out more about the author and his books., including a peek at his new novel Field of Prey featuring Lucas Davenport.

As always Sandford delivers a fast-paced, cleverly plotted story with lots of action, interesting characters, a wry sense of humor and a healthy dose of Midwestern skepticism.

The Crowded Grave by Martin Walker

The Crowded Grave; A Mystery of the French Countryside by Martin Walker --- 314 pages

The new mystery featuring Bruno Courreges, chief of police in the village of St. Denis, in the Dordogne region of southwestern France.

An interesting juxtaposition of wine, foie gras, animal rights protests, the web of village life, and a corpse discovered in the middle of a potentially significant archeological dig. The corpse creates even more complications tied to old tensions between France and Spain, Basque separatists, grudges dating back to the German occupation during World War II, and modern day terrorist activities.

Meanwhile, Bruno has to deal with an overzealous and inexperienced new magistrate, an old police rival, his current love affair with an expatriate Scotswoman, and the reappearance of his former lover, now making a name for herself in the French intelligence service --- who have just happened to choose St. Denis as the venue for an important ministerial conference between France and Spain.

It takes Walker a little while to establish all these interwoven plot lines. The best part of the book, and what makes the whole series worth the time to read, is the sense of place Walker evokes; the land, the people, the long history and a way of life so different from our own.