“Delightful….[An] engrossing plot and writing of the highest caliber.” — Washington Times   A globe-trotting archeologist with more grit, wit, and fortitude than Indian Jones himself, the intrepid Amelia Peabody confronts danger and dark mystery in the desert sands of Egypt in The Ape Who Guards the Balance —a breathtaking adventure from New York Times bestselling Grandmaster Elizabeth Peters that encompasses treachery, villainy, bloodthirsty cults, the Book of the Dead…and murder most foul. The Charleston Post and Courier proclaims Elizabeth Peters “a mistress of plot,” while the New York Times Book Review declares, “Amelia remains an irrepressible delight.” Named 1998 Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America, Elizabeth Peters is also a doctor of Egyptology whose mysteries have submerged readers in the vivid turn-of-the-century world of Amelia Peabody. In The Ape Who Guards the Balance Peters captures the immediacy of uncovering a new Egyptian tomb within the context of a tightly plotted murder investigation involving the entire Emerson Peabody clan. The characters, including Amelia's husband, Radcliffe Emerson, and her gifted son, Ramses, are meticulously drawn. As in previous novels the dialogue is reminiscent of The Thin Man . When a man calls out to passing suffragettes, "You ought to be 'ome washin' your 'usband's trousers!" Ramses shoots back, "I assure you, sir, the lady's trousers are not in such sore need of laundering as your own." Peters also toys with differing narrative perspectives, and Ramses emerges as a possible successor to his mother's legacy of crime solving. The Ape Who Guards the Balance begins in 1907 in England where Amelia is attending a suffragettes' rally outside the home of Mr. Geoffrey Romer of the House of Commons. It seems Romer is one of the few remaining private collectors of Egyptian antiquities, and a series of bizarre events at the protest soon embroil Amelia in grave personal danger. Suspecting that the Master Criminal, Sethos, is behind their problems, the Emerson Peabodys hasten to Egypt to continue their studies in the Valley of Kings where they soon acquire a papyrus of the Book of the Dead . As with past seasons, however, their archaeological expedition is interrupted. The murdered body of a woman is found in the Nile. Ramses, Radcliffe, and Amelia all have their theories as to the origin of the crime, but their own lives might soon be at stake if the cult of Thoth and their ancient book is, indeed, involved. Other Peabody mysteries include Seeing a Large Cat , The Hippopotamus Pool , The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog , The Deeds of the Disturber , Lion in the Valley , The Curse of the Pharaohs , and Crocodile on the Sandbank . --Patrick O'Kelley YA?Fans will gravitate to this new addition to this popular murder-archaeology series. From the streets of London to the Egyptian desert, the Peabody-Emerson family is in danger. This complex story set in 1907 opens with an attempt to kidnap Amelia. Grisly murder, villains in disguise, and intrigue follow the family to excavation sites in Egypt, and neither the characters nor readers initially understand why. Teens will be pleased that the children introduced in earlier volumes have greater roles in this story. Son Ramses, his friend David, and Amelia's and Emerson's adopted daughter, Nefret, are mature young people who obey and disobey their parents when it suits them. All is related through Amelia's first-person, witty narration. This one is sure to be as popular as Peters's earlier books.?Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. Tenth in this long-running, long-winded series (Seeing a Large Cat, 1997, etc.) finds Egyptologists Professor and Amelia Emerson, their clever, stoic son Ramses, adopted daughter Nefret, and Ramses friend David, lovingly accepted as a member of the family, preparing to return to Egypt after a stay in London marred by a crude attempt to kidnap Ameliaengineered, in Ramses view, by their old, elusive enemy Sethos. The Professors officially assigned task this 1906 season is to clean out some previously opened, not very important tombs, while rival Theodore Davis has been given the exploration of what is probably a royal burial site. Soon after the family returns to Luxor, Ramses and Davis, in native disguise, go on the prowl for news of Sethos, purchasing along the way a fine papyrus scroll from one Yassuf Mahmud, then getting attacked in the process and rescued by prostitute Layla. The discovery, days later, of Mahmuds mutilated body floating in the Nile is just the beginning of a series of grotesque happeningsall sandwiched between dinner parties and a visit from Emersons brother Walter, with wife Evelyn and their daughter Lia, whos madly in love with David, as Ramses is with Nefret (in tight-lipped silence, of course). The body count ri