Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Tomb of the Golden Bird
    Unavailable
    Tomb of the Golden Bird
    Unavailable
    Tomb of the Golden Bird
    Ebook494 pages8 hours

    Tomb of the Golden Bird

    By Elizabeth Peters

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    Convinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, eminent Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his intrepid wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Having been banned forever from the East Valley, Emerson, against Amelia's advice, has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights. But Emerson's trickery has backfired, and his insistent interest in the site has made his rivals all the more determined to keep the Emerson clan away.

    Powerless to intervene but determined to stay close to the unattainable tomb, the family returns to Luxor and prepares to continue their dig in the less promising West Valley—and to watch from the sidelines as Carter and Carnarvon "discover" the greatest Egyptian treasure of all time: King Tut's tomb. But before their own excavation can get underway, Emerson and his son, Ramses, find themselves lured into a trap by a strange group of villains ominously demanding "Where is he?" Driven by distress—and, of course, Amelia's insatiable curiosity—the Emersons embark on a quest to uncover who "he" is and why "he" must be found, only to discover that the answer is uncomfortably close to home. Now Amelia must find a way to protect her family—and perhaps even her would-be nemesis—from the sinister forces that will stop at nothing to succeed in the nefarious plot that threatens the peace of the entire region.

    Filled with heart-stopping suspense, political intrigue, and Amelia Peabody's trademark wit and wisdom, Tomb of the Golden Bird is the latest thrilling installment from the renowned and beloved "grande dame of historical mystery" (Washington Post).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061804878
    Author

    Elizabeth Peters

    Elizabeth Peters earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago’s famed Oriental Institute. During her fifty-year career, she wrote more than seventy novels and three nonfiction books on Egypt. She received numerous writing awards and, in 2012, was given the first Amelia Peabody Award, created in her honor. She died in 2013, leaving a partially completed manuscript of The Painted Queen.

    Read more from Elizabeth Peters

    Related to Tomb of the Golden Bird

    Titles in the series (5)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      When Wilde Met Whitman

      Jul 16, 2018

      When Wilde Met Whitman
      8 min read

    • Article

      Shakespeare’s Scoundrels

      May 20, 2021

      Shakespeare’s Scoundrels
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Greatest Pharaoh?

      Jun 8, 2023

      The Greatest Pharaoh?
      8 min read

    • Article

      ‘Ditshego loved Africa’

      Oct 25, 2020

      THE sudden death of Mr Samuel Mosalagae “Bra Sam” Ditshego upset a good part of Azania. It was so unexpected or worse it was not expected at all. Now or even later. But what can we say; “when a man is great any death is untimely, even if he dies at t

      2 min read

    • Article

      'Annotated African American Folktales' Reclaims Stories Passed Down From Slavery

      Nov 10, 2017

      The new anthology, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar, aims to make century-old stories — of flying Africans, quizzical animals and even Uncle Remus — available to new generations.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Classical Corner

      Aug 12, 2021

      Classical Corner
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Forgotten Novelist Who Remade Egyptian Cinema

      Sep 8, 2023

      It is shocking that Ihsan Abdel Kouddous is still largely unknown outside the Arab world. The post The Forgotten Novelist Who Remade Egyptian Cinema appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Phryne c371-316 BC

      Feb 15, 2024

      Phryne c371-316 BC
      2 min read

    • Article

      Scrabble On The Nile

      Jul 16, 2021

      Scrabble On The Nile
      3 min read

    • Article

      Welcome July 2023

      Jun 8, 2023

      "When I was six years old I took part in a school adaptation of the Exodus story, in which I played the pharaoh who was so reluctant to let the Israelites go. My historical knowledge was significantly more limited at that age, but one thing I knew ev

      1 min read

    • Article

      High Priestess Of A New Morality

      Dec 23, 2020

      IF ANY PERIOD OF BRITISH HISTORY can qualify as an illustration of Carlyle’s great man theory, then it is surely the nineteenth century. It was a time when individual men did demonstrably great things, such as invent world-changing machines, fight wa

      3 min read

    • Article

      Dinner with Martin Amis

      Oct 3, 2019

      Dinner with Martin Amis
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Captain’s Apprentice

      Nov 16, 2022

      Chatto & Windus, 400pp, £20 ‘Davison's book circles round The Captain's Apprentice, a narrative ballad about the torture [and death] of a teenage cabin boy that Vaughan Williams first heard in 1905, sung by a fisherman in a rough quarter of the port

      1 min read

    • Article

      Was Shakespeare a Woman?

      May 10, 2019

      Was Shakespeare a Woman?
      18 min read

    • Article

      Stealing The Show

      Mar 14, 2024

      Was The Ghost Theatre inspired by real-life Elizabethans? It was inspired by a 1602 court case in which nobleman Henry Clifton accused the owner of the Blackfriars Theatre, Henry Evans, of kidnapping his son. The boy was snatched in the street to be

      1 min read

    • Article

      On The Roman Road

      Jan 11, 2023

      On The Roman Road
      3 min read

    • Article

      Francis Spufford Vividly Recreates an 18th-Century New York in ‘Golden Hill’

      Jul 26, 2018

      Dear Reader, envision that Village which grew upon the southern strand of that isle of Manhattoes: a Lenape settlement purchased for 60 guilders and named for Amsterdam, later to be acquired by gunships of King James, and her wooden-legged governor r

      7 min read

    • Article

      Invisible Ink

      Mar 4, 2024

      "Shakespeare’s Sister” is an oblique reference to Virginia Woolf ’s 1929 essay “A Room of One’s Own,” in which the British writer imagines that the Bard had an equally talented sister named Judith. With little opportunity and few protections, Judith

      4 min read

    • Article

      Ovid’s Exilic Imagination

      May 25, 2022

      I suggest that Ovid was not simply exiled, but that he also exiled himself. The post Ovid’s Exilic Imagination appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Sail Or Who Disappeared

      Jun 25, 2023

      The Sail Or Who Disappeared
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Tomb of the Golden Bird

    4/5

    25 ratings19 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This Amelia Peabody adventure centers on Howard Carter's discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922.Of course, the Emerson family gets caught up not only in the excitement of the discovery, but in fighting crime and all kinds of intrigue as well.This was a very satisfying addition to the series.I simultaneously read Carter's own account of the tomb's discovery. which made this book even more fun and interesting.
    • 5/5
      The Emerson clan comes to Egypt sure that the tomb of Tutankhaman will be found in the East Valley, and Emerson finds the spot, but it is not in his area, so he has to get Howard Carter to actually open it. Everyone is anxious to get into the caves before they are officially opened, including the Emersons, which causes great rivallry to be fired up and anger on all sides. There are other political uprisings afoot, which Sethos gets involved in, and brings the family into when he falls ill. All the characters go their separate ways with a wonderful conclusion at the end of the book, which will leave all Amelia's fans very satisfied.
    • 2/5
      Disappointing. I adore Eliz. Peters and the Amelia Peabody mysteries (of which this is one), but I found this one slow going and muddled and could never quite figure out why I should even care about the mystery aspect, such as it was. I kind of wish Ms. Peters would either wind up the Amelia stories and move on to something else, or jump ahead to the next generation of the family. Best I can figure the math (and anyone who knows me well knows how scary THAT phrase is!), Nefret’s and Ramses’ twins should be in their early- to mid-twenties at about the time of WWII and I could see some interesting story possibilities there. But for this story, I give it a rather sad D+ and that’s being generous.
    • 5/5
      Amelia and Emerson's contemporary, Howard Carter, discovers Tut's tomb.
    • 5/5
      This is the 18th, and latest book in the Amelia Peabody series. It's really bittersweet being all caught up--I've loved reading them, but it's sad knowing I don't have any more waiting for me.The year is 1922, and if you're familiar with Egyptology, you'll know that that's the year when King Tut's tomb was found. Unfortunately, credit for the discovery doesn't go to the Emersons--since Radcliffe had betrayed his interest, Howard Carter and his sponsor, Carnarvon, decided to remain in the Valley of the Kings for one more season, and Carter discovers the tomb.The Emersons are eager to be in on the discovery and offer their help, but when Radcliffe accuses Carter and Carnarvon of stealing artifacts from the tomb, they ban him from the site.Meanwhile, Sethos arrives in the grip of a malarial fever, with a coded message he says is putting his life in danger. Keeping him hidden is no easy matter, with all the journalists around for the opening of Tut's tomb, including Sethos's estranged wife. And the family, including their butler Gargery who's arrived from England, is suddenly (again) under constant threat of attack and abduction.Ramses and David, who were in the intelligence service during the war (as was Sethos), use their contacts to try to discover who's behind the attacks and the message, and uncover an assassination plot, and David is torn between his loyalties to his English family and his Egyptian heritage.Mostly, though, it's an adventurous visit with old friends. Amelia and Emerson are getting older, and now that Ramses and Nefret's twins are 5, the family that's been a working unit for so long is starting to break apart. Just like it does in real life, the impending independence of the younger generation is a matter for both pride and sadness. I have no idea if it's the case or not, but Tomb of the Golden Bird feels like an end to the series. Maybe I'm just affected because it's the last one in my TBR pile, but with everyone planning on going their own ways, it feels final. At any rate, if there is a next book, it'll be interesting to see who's the focus and how the separation is handled.
    • 3/5
      I found this book confusing and the plot convoluted. Perhaps it is better read than listened to. And being one of a series perhaps I need more back-story.
    • 4/5
      This latest entry in the long-running Amelia Peabody series is set against a backdrop of Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamon's tomb. The "plot", such as it is, though, is more concerned with nationalism in the Middle East. It's a pity that Peters didn't see fit to focus more attention on that aspect of the story. Still, it's an entertaining hoot. For fans of the series, there are no surprises.
    • 4/5
      This series of books gives one a wonderful historical view of archaeologists in fiction form. Recommended to all.
    • 4/5
      I'm afraid that I didn't like this as much as I have the other Amelia Peabody books. I felt that there were too many plots about which I cared too little, and, as a result, too much explanation and tying of loose threads as the book reached its close.What did profoundly touch me was the closing scene, which I prefer not to give away and risk reading a reader's pleasure. If the author were contemplating an end to the series, that would be the perfect place - but I do hope that there will be more!
    • 3/5
      I liked this book only for it's interplay between characters especially Peadbody and Emerson. The story did not hold together well the drama dead ended several times and the ending was anti-climatic. I started reading hoping there would be a mystery tightly woven around archeology the characters came off as more secret agents than archeologists or egyptologists. I would have loved to have the story of King Tut's tomb a more signficiant part of the mystery as those details were very exciting. I will read more by her simply because of the engaging character and hopefully other stories will be more cohesive and suspensful.
    • 3/5
      A late entry (2006) in the Amelia Peabody series. Ramses and Nefret are grown, married and have two children. The story takes place in 1922 when the tomb of King Tut was found by Howard Carter. There are several red herrings and no mystery to speak of. Too many characters spoil this soup.
    • 5/5
      I'm a huge fan of this series of books. Although Peters is an Egyptologist herself the fun for me comes with the interplay between the characters, with Amelia and her redoubtable parasol at the heart. This time Howard Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen is at the heart of the novel, much to Emerson's chagrin. All the key characters are present and on fine form, even Gargery and David make it to Egypt. But for all of that this feels as though, chronologically at least, it might be the end of the series, as Ramses and Nefret’s family starts to grow up and Amelia and Emerson are, well, like Gargery, ageing. A superb read.
    • 3/5
      The climax of the science of Egyptology - the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen - will probably also be the final chapter in the history of the Emerson clan. Covering probably a good thirty years of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the series runs the gamut of actual characters in history and adds many additional Egyptologists besides; and manages to walk the fine line between melodrama and ludicrousness quite successfully. In this episode, Ms. Peters attempts a sweeping tale of earthshaking proportions while also adding her usual precise historical detail. Unfortunately, to succeed in the task would have required a book of Harry Potter-esque proportions, and the resolution of several subplots feels to be a bit abrupt. Nevertheless, not to read it would leave one who has read the earlier books aching to know what happens; while one who has not read them, should. Either way Tomb of the Golden Bird would eventually be a must-read.
    • 5/5
      delightful
    • 1/5
      After a brief return to form in Guardian of the Horizon and The Serpent on the Crown, Peters is back to phoning in the mystery while she dwells on the domestic relations of the vast and quarrelsome Emerson clan. After all, who could possibly be interested in such petty matters as the discovery of King Tut's tomb, political unrest in the post-WWI Middle East, or a tomb robber who somehow blows himself up when we could be discussing the stormy state of Sethos and Margaret's marriage (maybe Amelia, with her vast knowledge of psychology, could teach these two a little about communication skills), the need for Ramses and Nefret to have some independence (it only takes them 3 months to decide to do what Amelia planned for them from the beginning), or whether Bertie and Jumana will finally get together (they do, in one of the most rushed and undramatic romances Peters has ever penned). Even Amelia disappoints, as she fails to deliver her usual blithe outrageousness (she does figure out the baffling cipher, but it's a meaningless clue that leads nowhere). Also, the book is riddled with annoying grammatical errors that should have been cleaned out by a good copy edit.
    • 3/5
      In the 18th book of the Amelia Peabody series, we join the archaeological Emerson family in 1922 Egypt for another digging season. Radcliffe Emerson is sure a major find is still waiting to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings. Professor Emerson is trying to dissuade the wealthy Lord Carnavon and his hired archaeologist, Howard Carter, from continuing their work and giving the concession to him. Unfortunately Carter and Carnavon want one last season, in which they will soon discover where Tutankhamen is buried.

      I've been looking forward to this installment of the series for some time. I've always wondered how they would combine the real-life discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb with the fictional story of “the world's greatest archaeologist”, Radcliffe Emerson. I enjoyed discovering how Amelia manages to get in on the excitement of the discovery and how she and Emerson refuse to be thwarted by Carnavon and Carter. I really enjoyed seeing how the author slipped in the storyline of how Professor Emerson might have been responsible for letting loose the Mummy's curse that ends in the deaths of Carter and Carnavon, along with other members of the crew.

      The series is getting older, as is our heroine, Amelia Peabody. It's not quite as exciting as it used to be but I always give an extra star when listening to the audio book version, narrated by the incomparable Barbara Rosenblat. She personifies Amelia to me, much as Jayne Entwhistle personifies Flavia de Luce. If you are a fan of the series, you should enjoy this one.
    • 3/5
      I usually try to be thoughtful and reasoned when doing a review, but this book was just plain bad. This series jumped the shark several books ago, but I keep hoping Peters will realize this and turn the series over to a new generation of characters that *might* be able to breath some new life and new ideas into the plotlines. Alas, this is nothing but a "clips show" of old material (Sethos as rogue - we get it! David entangled in Egyptian independence - done! And, PLEASE, no more visions of Abdullah, family Xmas celebrations, councils of war, tea at Shepherd's or Kadija's green goop!) thrown together in hopes of suckering fans of the series into spending money. My advice: if you *have* to read this one, borrow it from the library. I know I won't be purchasing any more books in this series.
    • 5/5
      We loved this book, but as with all the books in this series, it just left us wanting more! (And also wondering how old Amelia is at this point.)
    • 4/5
      As the final book in the series (chronologically speaking) this book leaves long time readers with a satisfying wrap up. Ms. Peters creates a convincing story around the discovery of King Tut's tomb (crediting the Professor with the intuition to find the burial place) and overlays it with on-going unrest in Egypt. There is the token attempted antiquities heist, but mostly this book is fun for all the interplay between the various characters. I will miss the Emerson clan!