The Last Camel Died at Noon

My son Nick and I began reading Amelia Peabody's Egyptology mysteries when he was a precocious seven-year-old, discovering his calling as an archaeologist. I'd last read our copy of The Last Camel Died at Noon aloud to him when he was eleven and laid up in hospital with a leg injury—the result of his curiosity being closely akin to that of Peabody's son Ramses.

The inimitable voice of Peabody relating her rollicking adventures sped Nick's recovery and gave us both courage. I wrote my thanks to Elizabeth Peters and still treasure her warm, handwritten reply.

Nick, now a professor of… show more.

Is there a better book title than The Last Camel Died at Noon? When I saw this book in the bookstore, I bought it instantly. What curious mind wouldn’t? I had to know the who, what, where, when, and why of this story. And to my delight, it was set in the early twentieth century in one of my favorite, exotic countries, Egypt. Archeologist couple Amelia Peabody and husband Radcliffe Emerson, are Nick and Nora Charles, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford all rolled into one. The Last Camel is the sixth book in Elizabeth… show more.

Amelia Peabody and her family are Egyptologists who attract trouble like treacle draws flies. When a crime occurs, Amelia eagerly wades in to solve it, with the help of her jangling belt of tools which is an amusing parody of a Victorian chatelaine. I appreciate her larger-than-life personality, her enthusiastic outlook, and her delight in arguments (er, energetic discussions) with her husband, Emerson. Amelia and her family are unconventional, and they know it. They’re ahead of their time and actively advocate for better practices in archeology and better treatment of the less powerful—mostly to deaf ears among the officials in… show more.