There is something so satisfying about a new Amelia Peabody mystery. You know what to expect, and you get it, and somehow, it is all the better for it. With Elizabeth Peters you know you are in safe hands. She keeps you informed, engrossed, and laughing hysterically all at the same time. It is a whodunit, but it is not a guilty pleasure. Imagine eating comfort food that was actually good for you – that’s what an Amelia Peabody mystery is. Elizabeth Peters has a doctorate in Egyptology, and all her books are meticulously researched. So the mummies and the sarcophagi will actually belong to the same era, and the historical details are accurate (maybe not the washed donkeys[1]).
Her latest book came out in April, just in time for my birthday. Another guilt-free pleasure – I promptly ordered the hardbound edition as my birthday present to myself. I saved it for my birthday and read most of it in one sitting, when I should have been preparing for my Lit. Theory class. River in the Sky is set in the middle of the series, before Ramses and Nefret are married. For a change, it is set in Jerusalem and not Egypt, but there is the usual satisfying number of corpses, and Ramses is in deathly danger several times. And of course, he survives them all with his usual panache. You can find the summary on amazon, so I will not bore you with the story. What I will do is reproduce some of my favorite Amelia Peabody quotes, and whet your appetite for more.
On Marriage
“Marriage should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries.”
“Five years of marriage have taught me that even if one is unamused by the (presumed) wit of one’s spouse, one does not say so.”
On Religion
“Godly persons are more vulnerable than most to the machinations of the ungodly.”
“I would not be at all surprised to find that it was for gold that Cain committed the first murder. (It happened a very long time ago, and Holy Writ, though no doubt divinely inspired, is a trifle careless about details. God is not a historian.)”
On Archaeology
“I will tell you a little secret about archaeologists, dear Reader. They all pretend to be very high-minded. They claim that their sole aim in excavation is to uncover the mysteries of the past and add to the store of human knowledge. They lie. What they really want is a spectacular discovery, so they can get their names in the newspapers and inspire envy and hatred in the hearts of their rivals.”
On Men
“Men always have some high-sounding excuse for indulging themselves.”
“The difficulty was that he was a man.”
“Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point.”
“It is impossible for any rational mind to follow the peculiar mental convolutions that pass for logic among the male sex . . .”
“Men are by instinct untidy animals.”
“Emerson likes to think he is the master of his fate and the lord of all he surveys. It is a delusion common to the male sex and accounts for the sputtering fury with which they respond to the slightest interference with their plans, no matter how impractical those plans may be.”
On Women
“A woman’s instinct, I always feel, supersedes logic.”
“No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it.”
On Crime and Murder
“Most people obey the orders of an individual who is pointing a gun at them.”
“High-minded individuals are more dangerous than criminals. They can always find hypocritical excuses for committing acts of violence.”
On Human Nature
“When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one’s footing.”
“If someone lies down and invites you to trample on him, you are a remarkable individual if you decline the invitation.”
For more, check out www.ameliapeabody.com
[1] If you are a fan, you know what I am referring to. If not, read one of her books and find out.
Like the comments on men..!
Nice…..