The Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters

Main characters: Amelia Peabody, and her ever expanding family
Location: Thebes, Egypt
Time period: 1920s
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Archaeology

Oh, I do love the Amelia Peabody mysteries! In the volume, we finally witness the opening of King Tut's tomb--something that we have been anticipating ever since Howard Carter showed up as a character in the series. Of course, we've also known that Emerson cannot be directly involved in the exploration of the tomb; he is forced to watch from the sidelines because he has (yet again) offended the powers that be.

But of course there's plenty to keep the Emerson clan busy. Besides their own excavations, there are mysterious happenings going on. Ramses's daughter, Charla, is lured away by a strange man in the marketplace, though she is soon found unharmed. Even their ancient and loyal butler, Gargery, has an adventure when he is kidnapped--though also released unharmed. Ramses and Emerson walk into an obvious trap to try to get to the bottom of it; their captors repeatedly ask "where is he?" which begs the question--which he? It could only be Sethos, still in the spy business even though it threatens to destroy his marriage.

I have to admit that I no longer read this series for the mysteries. My greatest joy is just revisiting this lively group of characters. It's like attending a family reunion each time a new book comes out; you catch up on what's been going on since the last time we met, marvel at how the children are growing, and enjoy lots of energetic conversation about history ancient and modern.