Perhaps my favorite Amelia Peabody Emerson mystery yet! Elizabeth Peters isn't exactly a brilliant mystery novelist as far as the mystery part is concerned, but she does, indeed, craft a fun tale -- and she's created two very charming lead characters whose banter more than makes up for any deficiencies as far as the mystery is concerned. Thankfully any issues which cropped up in the past few novels and proved to be irritating (aka Ramses and his speech defect) have been firmly dealt with and reasonably worked around. True, things are a bit formulaic and yes, there are several things that the reader just needs to accept and roll with, but hey, I felt more entertained by this book than I have by the previous two installments and this firmly planted me in the pro-Peters camp so that I know I'll keep reading the series, so clearly the book is a very welcome chapter in the lives of Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson.In Lion in the Valley, the Emerson family heads to Egypt for a season spent excavating at Dahshoor. They acquired this coveted site after events from the previous novel saw them all imprisoned in the black pyramid at Dahshoor and young Ramses may or may not have helped the Director of Antiquities to a rich and exciting find. Even with such glorious pyramids, though, one could not think that Amelia Peabody Emerson would be so content as to ignore the danger from the Master Criminal, that fiend who runs a black-market antiquities ring. Those readers who were growing a bit annoyed at the constant speculation on such a character will be quite pleased with this novel, where considerable progress is made towards unmasking the devil, or at least learning more about his (her?) passions and methods. The Emersons have a talent for "adopting" down-on-their-luck Englishmen (a role filled just as often by Englishwomen, though) and this holds true here. They run across a young man named Nemo (or such is the name he selects from himself) who is obviously a well-bred Englishman (or Scot) even if he is dirty, dressed as an Arab, and has clearly been smoking opium. After Nemo saves Ramses from potentially being abducted, Emerson insists that they take in this stray and assigns him the role of Ramses-caretaker (no one is much surprised that this post is never filled by one person for more than one book). Not to be outdone, Peabody has her own idea as to who should be taken under her wing this trip when she learns the identity of a young lady named Miss Enid Debenham, an heiress seen in the company of the scheming Kalenischeff. Of course, when Kalenischeff is found dead in her room and Miss Debenham is nowhere to be found, there is some question as to whether or not the lady can look after herself. Naturally, of course, there's plenty of romantic backstory to entangle "Nemo" and Enid and that all plays a role as the Emersons try to determine who killed Kalenischeff, who is behind the antiquities smuggling ring, and who seems to be sending Amelia little tokens of love... Of primary importance to me in this particular volume was the fact that Ramses has mostly outgrown any speech defects that rendered his soliloquies quite irritating. Now the boy is merely tiresome, but his parents seem to share the same opinion as this reader and so they are frequently cutting the boy off... of course, this often has the obvious effect of silencing the astute young child when he's about to supply a crucial bit of information, thus leading to confusion and drama, but so it goes. The somewhat harder to swallow storyline involves the identity of the master criminal and his true passions... for even if we can adore Amelia Peabody, let's face it... she was initially described in the first book as a pretty solid spinster entirely out of fashion and unless love has totally transformed her, I'm finding it pretty hard that this mastermind has worshipped her from afar. Be that as it may, at least we do get to interact with this genius of crime and we get to see Emerson fume and fuss with jealousy as Amelia bumbles on, oblivious until it's all immediately in her face (or lap). Peters seems to have allowed herself to be a touch more romance-y in each novel, though it's not like there's anything graphic. Perhaps it's simply that she's a little freer with the jokes on this topic, as with a particularly funny exchange when Miss Debenham comments that she heard such strange noises in the desert during the night... all these cries and moans. It's rather quite cute to see Peters add in those small touches while, thankfully, refraining from totally veering into romance novel territory. As passionate as Peabody and Emerson might be, I rather prefer the pan off into the sunset technique as far as they're concerned.Since I was a little disappointed with The Mummy Case, I was all the more pleased to see that Peters had produced quite a pleasant addition to her series with Lion in the Valley. By this point, most readers will have decided if they're jumping ship on the series or sticking it out and, unsurprisingly, I shall continue to read. The good thing, though, is the fact that these don't particularly require the reader to devour them with great speed, so I feel like I can stretch out my enjoyment to savor these books from this point on, dipping into my stash whenever a rainy day permits.
[7/10] Have I mentioned to you, Peabody, that one of the reasons why I adore you is that you are more inclined to beat people with your umbrella than fall weeping on your bed? Amelia Peabody returns to Egipt in the company of her husband, Professor Emerson, and her darling offspring Ramses, now eight years old and more disruptive than you can imagine ( Ramses seldom disobeyed a direct order, but he had a diabolical facility for finding a loophole in my commands. ) . The plot follows the formula set up in the previous three books: the Emerson family sets camp on an archeological site and starts digging. Pretty soon the dead bodies outnumber the mummies discovered on site and the whole family participate in the investigations and speculations as to the identity of the guilty party - three Sherlocks for the price of one, with young Ramses eclipsing both his parents when it comes to lengthy discourse and far fetched theories. Jumping to conclusions is the favorite sport of the amateur sleuth family and much of the charm of the story lies in proving their theories wrong. As usual, there's a sideplot of young people who might fall in love if they were not among the suspects. The situation prompts Amelia to assume her matchmaker role and to work to bring them together whether they will it or not: "You are not leaving my employ, Mr. Nemo. What — do you suppose that, having once placed my shoulder to the wheel and my nose to the grindstone, I will leave the furrow unplowed? I have sworn to redeem you and redeem you I will, with your cooperation or without it. In principle, I am in full sympathy with the right of every Englishman — or woman — or, come to that, any man or woman of any nation ... What was I about to say?"Nemo's frown had been replaced by a blank, almost imbecile stare. "I haven't the slightest idea," he mumbled."Oh, yes. I believe firmly in the right of the individual to seek or leave employment whenever he or she chooses. Any infringement of that choice constitutes serfdom, and liberty is the inalienable right of humankind. However, in this case your right to liberty must be laid aside temporarily in favor of a higher good." I found the actual criminal investigation and the archeological details in this fourth book were not quite up to the high standards I have come to expect from Peters. The ending was spectacular, but somewhat unoriginal, with the M.C. (stands for master criminal) explaining at length his dastardly deeds. Or maybe I am a victim of my own jumping to conclusions and being proven wrong when the suspect I picked up turned out to be innocent (view spoiler)[ Enid Debenham (hide spoiler)]
Do You like book Lion In The Valley (2015)?
This is the second Amelia Peabody I have read, and it will be my last. While I wasn't thrilled with the characters in Crocodile on the Sandbank,the mystery itself was okay and I figured that by the time Elizabeth Peters got to book number 4, all the things that irritated me would have been ironed out. Nope, they are even worse. The main characters are so unlikable! Amelia and Emerson are just so arrogant. They are constantly having conversations that boil down to them saying, "I knew that." "Well, I knew it before you knew it." "But I knew it even before I needed to know it" etc, etc. And there is Amelia constantly telling the reader about her intimate life with her husband. I don't care. It has no bearing on the mystery and it does nothing for character development.The mystery itself was easily figured out and terribly cliche. The last good Master Criminal was Professor Moriarty.What gives it 2 stars instead of 1 is the way that Elizabeth Peters describes the Egyptian desert and the digs. The imagery she uses is beautiful and I can see the setting in my mind.(Oh and Amelia and Emerson's son, Ramses, may be the most annoying character in all of fiction. And it REALLY bothers me that the author decided to have Amelia not care about her son in the slightest and simply see him as an annoyance. If you can't write someone that even a mother could like, how is a reader supposed to like him?)
—Aileen Frost
Peabody and Emerson return to the Dahshoor valley (The Mummy Case) to explore the coveted (by them) Black Pyramid. Enid flees Cairo to join them. Donald had been hired to watch Rameses. Peabody knows they are being watched and pursued by the Master Criminal but can't figure out who he/she is. Caught me off-guard for Peters to have Peabody, Emerson, and Rameses reveal who they think the Master Criminal is but that becomes clear in the end. Engaging. I was glad she had Rameses stop using that odd manner of mispronunciation that was so annoying in "The Mummy Case".
—Bob Allen
As with most books I read, I listened to the audiobook for this one. I was really put off initially by the fact that this one was not read by Barbara Rosenblat. She has been the reader for all the other Amelia Peabody books I have read, and I really do enjoy the way she reads the book and the voices that she uses. Her expressiveness when reading the dialogue for Professor Emerson is perfect.So, I was immediately put off by hearing a different reader reading the book, and not putting near as much expressiveness into Amelia's and Emerson's dialogue. I eventually got over this complaint as I was more immersed in the story. The overall plot of this one is fairly forgettable, but 8-year-old Ramses is quite entertaining. Also, the main conflict in this book between the Master Criminal, Sethos, and the Emerson's is referred to in many of the later volumes. We also see Ramses's introduction to the art of disguise that he uses in so many future stories. All in all, I felt it was a worthy addition to the series.
—Erik
