In this tenth Amelia Peabody historical mystery, the Emersons are in Egypt and it is 1907. When an unknown papyrus falls into their hands, they find themselves dealing with a villain from the past. Sethos has kept his word and his distance but now a rival threatens Amelia and all bets are off.

As Emerson closely watches archaeological rival Davies unearth a tomb filled with treasures, his family is off having adventures of their own and distracting him into hunts for murderers. With the younger Emersons including Amelia's namesake Lia on the way to Egypt, they need to be quick to track down the villains in order to keep their family safe.

With the children growing up, they are having issues of their own. David has fallen in love with Lia which doesn't please his parents or Amelia who finds that she has prejudices that she was not aware of. And Ramses seemingly unrequited love for Nefret is making things very hard for him.

The death of Abdullah who died saving Amelia from a villain's bullet, casts a pall on the group and makes Amelia realize just how important he was to her. His death seems to also shift her feelings on David and Lia.

This was an engaging story. I like Manuscript H and the letters which are apparently from Nefret to Lia which help balance the account since Amelia's viewpoint is filtered through her own beliefs and prejudices. ( )

Synopsis: 'Luxor, 1906-1907. The Emerson clan is trying to determine where to dig during the upcoming season. But before they even leave England, they encounter Sethos and foil an attempt to kidnap Amelia. Suspicion for the attempt falls on Sethos, but not everyone is sure.
Upon arriving in Egypt, the children, Nefret, Ramses and David, now in their early twenties but still children to Amelia and Emerson, acquire a magnificent papyrus, but are also stalked. Is Sethos behind this too?
Since Emerson has managed to annoy M. Maspero to the point of distraction, he is initially not even allowed near the Valley of the Kings, where another of Emerson’s rivals and targets of invective, Theodore M. Davis, has the rights to the entire valley. Much to everyone’s surprise (and possibly with Nefret’s help), Emerson is granted permission by Davis to clean up three tombs thought to be already excavated in full, KV3, KV4 and KV5.
Not only does his rival Davis find yet another rich tomb, right next to the debris-filled and empty tomb he excavates, once again somebody is still after the Emersons—particularly, it seems, Amelia. But help is on the way, from surprising, or perhaps not so surprising, quarters.'
Review: 'The book's title refers to the Egyptian god Thoth, the divine scribe who waits for the heart of the dead to be weighed on a scale and judged so that he may record its fate; Thoth is usually represented as having the head of an ibis, but also appears as a baboon or ape with the balancing scales.' As usual, I loved the book. ( )

A private Egyptological collection is stolen from a house in London during a suffragette demonstration. Somebody attempts to kidnap Peabody. More untoward events occur when the family relocates to Egypt for a new digging season. Has The Master Criminal returned?

I always enjoy Amelia Peabody's narrative voice but it's been a while since I've read some of these so I didn't always get the references to earlier instalments - especially as the footnotes were missing from this edition. ( )

Unf, this family. My feelings. I love how this series is progressing, and the family dynamics and the kids growing up and coming into their own and the darker plotlines and just- unf. Love.

I'm glad this book addressed Amelia's reaction to David and Lia . It's always been obvious to a 2018 reader that Amelia is super racist, albeit in a fond, paternalistic kind of a way and I've been enjoying the series guiltily regardless. It shouldn't have taken until book 10 for the author to acknowledge it, but I'm glad it happened at all. ( )

In this entry in the series, there are now three voices: Ameila's (as an edited diary), Ramses' (novelistic), and Nefret's (epistolary). This makes for lots of fun. And Barbara Rosenblat's narration is entirely enjoyable. ( )