The Serpent on the Crown

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The Serpent on the Crown
SerpentontheCrown.png
First edition cover for The Serpent on the Crown
Author Elizabeth Peters
Cover artistPhill Singer
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Amelia Peabody series mysteries
Genre Historical mystery
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication date
2005
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages350
ISBN 0-06-059178-1
OCLC 57008254
813/.54 22
LC Class PS3563.E747 S44 2005
Preceded by Children of the Storm  
Followed by Tomb of the Golden Bird  

The Serpent on the Crown is the 17th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and published in 2005. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in 1922, in the dig season in Egypt.

Contents

Plot summary

In 1922 the Emersons are excavating at Deir el Medina, living in Luxor, when melodramatic Mrs Magda Petherick appears, hands them a box with an antique that she believes killed her husband in November. She fears its curse will kill her. Emerson agrees to hold the antique and to get rid of the curse. The box holds a solid gold small statue of a pharaoh, and it is both beautiful and a genuine antique, likely from the era of Amenhotep. Their friend Cyrus Vandergelt assures them of its high value in the antiques market, and says he will be happy to buy it.

Mrs Petherick's stepson Adrian, who is recovering from the Great War, accuses them of taking the most valuable item in his father's collection. Harriet, his sister and caretaker, takes him away. Emerson revises his plan of work to learn the provenance of the statue. He goes to Cairo to get permission to work in KV55; he returns with Sethos. Experienced in robbing tombs in his past, Sethos never saw or sold that fine statue. He and Heinrich Lidman join the staff.

Emerson does the exorcism to end the power of the curse. The next morning, they learn that Mrs Petherick's body was found in the gardens of the hotel, with white flower petals scattered over her. She was dressed in red, not her black clothes as a widow. The autopsy reveals she was smothered.

Emerson realizes the golden statue has been stolen by Lidman. He, Amelia, and the Vandergelts pursue him. Lidman is in tomb 25 in the West Valley, and he has taken Jumana hostage. After a struggle, Jumana rolls away from Lidman. Lidman escapes and starts climbing; Amelia shoots him in the leg.

Before he dies, Lidman confesses that his true name is Morritz X Daffinger. Daffinger was Magda Petherick's first husband. Lidman, an archaeologist, was comrades with Daffinger before he died in the war. When Daffinger became a prisoner of war, Magda did not wait for him to return, and went to England where she met her wealthy husband. Daffinger found her and blackmailed her. He killed her after she tried and failed to kill him.

Ramses, who specializes in reading ancient Egyptian writing, finds one note at the site about asking the gods' forgiveness for wrongdoing. He hires an assistant, Mikhail Katchenovsky. After translating all of the note, Katchenovsky wants to claim sole credit and threatens Ramses with a gun; Amelia is shot when she attempts to intervene. Katchenovsky is charged with attempted murder. Daoud finds the one piece of the gold statue that was missing, the serpent in the crown, and puts the completed statue next to Amelia as she recovers.

More scraps of papyrus found at the dig reveal that the statue is one of Tutankhamun, the one pharoah whose tomb has not been found. A worker who lived at Deir el Medina stole it and placed it in a temple, along with his note of confession in the 18th dynasty. As Mrs Petherick's second marriage was invalid, Mr Petherick's collection passes to his children. Harriet sells the gold statue to Cyrus to secure the money to care for her brother.

Title

The book's title is from the Poetical Stela of Thutmose III:

"I have robbed their nostrils of the breath of life and made the dread of you fill their hearts. My serpent on your brow consumed them."

Reviews

Kirkus Reviews found this novel a bit less complex or convoluted in plot than others in this series. In their view, "Peabody's Victorian rhetoric can go over the top, but her likable family's fans will find much to enjoy in an adventure less convoluted than usual, salted with the obligatory tidbits of Egyptology." [1]

Andrew Newman in The New York Times wrote about the audiobook narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. Newman observed her "recording of "The Serpent on the Crown," the 17th installment of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody Mysteries series" in Chelsea for Recorded Books. Rosenblat is an actress, but uses different skills when narrating a historical novel; Rosenblat "shift[ed] quickly between characters with British, Indian, Arabic, Egyptian, Irish, Austro-Hungarian and Texan accents. Those distinct roles interacted with incredulity, shock, anguish and sarcasm. It was emotion layered on dialect layered on perfect enunciation." [2] Rosenblat explained that narrating a book means "having to do everything – I mean everything – with the voice. There is no upturned eyebrow, no body language." [2] Rosenblat has narrated all the novels in the Amelia Peabody series.

See also

Related Research Articles

Amelia Peabody Emerson is the protagonist of the Amelia Peabody series, a series of historical mystery novels written by author Elizabeth Peters. Peabody is married to Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and has one biological child, Walter "Ramses" Peabody Emerson.

Barbara Louise Mertz was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. She was best known for her mystery and suspense novels, including the Amelia Peabody book series.

Professor Radcliffe Archibald Emerson, M.A. Ox., D.C.L. (Ox.), L.L.D. (Edinburgh), F.B.A., FRS, FRGS, MAPS, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Member of the American Philosophical Society, is one of the main characters in the Amelia Peabody historical mystery series by author Elizabeth Peters. He is an Egyptologist who is typically addressed as Professor, although he hates his first name and prefers to be called "Emerson." For his explosive temper and dynamic use of language, his Egyptian friends and employees have nicknamed him Abu Shitaim, "Father of Curses".

<i>The Curse of the Pharaohs</i> (novel) Book by Barbara Mertz

The Curse of the Pharaohs is a historical mystery novel by Elizabeth Peters, first published in 1981 and the second in the Amelia Peabody series of novels; it takes place in the excavation season of 1892–93.

<i>Lion in the Valley</i> Novel by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz)

Lion in the Valley is the fourth novel in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. It was first published in 1986. The story is set in the 1895–96 dig season in Egypt.

<i>The Deeds of the Disturber</i> Novel by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz)

Deeds of the Disturber is the fifth in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and first published in 1988. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. This is the only book in the series which takes place entirely in England, mainly in London in Summer 1896.

<i>The Ape Who Guards the Balance</i> Book by Elizabeth Peters

The Ape Who Guards the Balance is the tenth in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters, first published in 1998, and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1906–1907 dig season in Egypt.

Sethos is the nom de guerre of the shadowy "Master Criminal" in the Amelia Peabody series of historical mystery novels.

<i>The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog</i> Novel by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz)

The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog is the seventh in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional archaeologist and sleuth Amelia Peabody. It was first published in 1992. The story is set in the summer of 1898 in England and the 1898-1899 archaeological dig season in Egypt.

<i>The Hippopotamus Pool</i> Novel by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz)

The Hippopotamus Pool is the eighth in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and first published in 1996. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1899-1900 archaeological dig season. Although one review found the novel "heavy handed" in its style, while recognizing the many fans of this series, other reviewers enjoyed the wit, the "melodramatic 19th-century writing style" and the dandy "romantic nonsense".

<i>Seeing a Large Cat</i> 1997 novel by Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz)

Seeing a Large Cat is the ninth novel in the Amelia Peabody historical mystery series by Elizabeth Peters, first published in 1997. The story takes place in Egypt during the archaeological dig season of 1903-1904.

<i>The Falcon at the Portal</i> Book by Barbara Mertz

The Falcon at the Portal (1999) is the 11th in a series of historical mystery novels by Elizabeth Peters, first published in 1999. It features fictional archaeologist and sleuth Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1911–1912 dig season in Egypt.

<i>He Shall Thunder in the Sky</i> Book by Elizabeth Peters

He Shall Thunder in the Sky is the 12th in a series of historical mystery novels by Elizabeth Peters, first published in 2000, and featuring fictional archaeologist and sleuth Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1914–15 dig season in Egypt.

<i>Lord of the Silent</i> Book by Barbara Mertz

Lord of the Silent is the 13th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. It was first published in 2001. The story is set in the 1915–1916 dig season in Egypt.

<i>The Golden One</i> (novel) Novel by Elizabeth Peters

The Golden One is the 14th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. It was first published in 2002. The story is set in the 1916–1917 dig season in Egypt.

<i>Children of the Storm</i> Book by Barbara Mertz

Children of the Storm is the 15th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and first published in 2003. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1919–1920 dig season in Egypt.

<i>Guardian of the Horizon</i> 2004 novel by Elizabeth Peters

Guardian of the Horizon is one of a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and published in 2004. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1907–1908 dig season in Egypt. This places it chronologically between the 10th and 11th novels, although it is 16th in order of publication.

<i>Tomb of the Golden Bird</i> Book by Barbara Mertz

Tomb of the Golden Bird is the 18th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and first published in 2006. It features fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody. The story is set in the 1922–1923 archeological dig season in Egypt, and is currently the final novel in the internal chronological scheme of the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amelia Peabody series</span> 1975–2010 mystery novels by Barbara Mertz

The Amelia Peabody series is a series of twenty historical mystery novels and one non-fiction companion volume written by Egyptologist Barbara Mertz (1927–2013) under the pen name Elizabeth Peters. The series is centered on the adventures of the unconventional female Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson, for whom the series is named, and an ever-increasing number of family, friends, allies, and characters both fictional and based on historical figures. The novels blend mystery and romance with a wryly comic tone, and at times also parody Victorian-era adventure novels such as those written by H. Rider Haggard. The series was published between 1975 and 2010, with the final, posthumous novel appearing in 2017.

References

  1. ↑ "The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters". Kirkus Reviews. May 20, 2010 [February 15, 2005]. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Newman, Andrew Adam (January 15, 2005). "Actors You've Never Heard of Are Becoming the Ones Heard Most". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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