Joan Hess (1949–2017)

I have been eagerly awaiting the final installment of the Amelia Peabody series ever since I heard that the late author Elizabeth Peters had one final book in the works. Thanks to the gracious folks who responded to my request at William Morrow/Harper Collins Publishers, I was able to get my hands on this advance reader's edition, and you may be sure that I devoured it!

For those who may be coming to this book with no prior knowledge of the series, even though this book is #20, it fits show more chronologically about two-thirds of the way into the series and fills in a gap between previously published books. The Painted Queen will certainly be most meaningful to you if you have read the books that precede it, but I think it would stand up even if you came to it without that context.

That being said, here are my thoughts:

This is a stellar addition to the Amelia series. On page one, I admitted to myself some reservations. Joan Hess is the co-author for this work; I wondered, how would the collaboration flow? Would I really recognize my favorite characters? Would I be able to suspend disbelief and go along on their adventures with the same thrill I've gotten in many of Elizabeth Peters' other works?

I realized by about page seven that the answer to all of those questions was YES! In fact, this book may actually mark the series' peak of comedy, derring-do, and suspense. It's very, very funny, and the action is tightly plotted without any slow bits.

I love the premise, which is absurd and therefore sits fair and square in Amelia's world. Without any apology whatsoever, she OWNS the fact that her life is straight out of the most sensational of novels. She and her family of archaeologists are just beginning their latest venture in Egypt when a villain with a monocle bursts into her bath chamber, gasps "Murder!" and collapses in a dead heap on the floor moments before he would have strangled her. Naturally, she hoists herself out of the tub and begins going through his pockets. When she and her husband Emerson begin speculating about the presence of the monocle, she immediately informs him that it must be the insignia of a secret society, and that assassins sometimes travel in gangs.
"Assassins do not travel in gangs," says Emerson.
(They are the perfect duo!)
This is the point at which I began to dissolve into fits of chuckling.

And that is just the beginning of an adventure that involves a whole parade of monocled men named after the great traitors of history. Also, you know the iconic treasure sitting in a museum in Berlin, the Nefertiti bust? The Emerson family is seamlessly inserted into that historical narrative. (I love the way Elizabeth Peters has always had them at or near the scene of great discoveries, but always in such a way that real history is left intact...they get their hands all over the story, but in the end they leave no trace!)
So, yes, the Nefertiti bust has been discovered, but then it vanishes, but then it reappears again...and again...and again...how many of them can there be? Amelia's son Ramses and his best friend David traverse Cairo hunting down each new copy.
This keeps Ramses mostly away from Nefret, the Emerson family's ward, now a grown woman with a tragedy in her past. Readers of The Falcon at the Portal and He Shall Thunder in the Sky know that since this new book is filling in that chronological gap, the relationship tension must be kept intact. It simmers ever so slightly below the surface.

I must mention one other big thing that I adored in this book....the appearances of the Emerson family's perpetual nemesis (actually, at this point, "frenemy" is probably a more accurate description). Yes, it's Sethos, or as Amelia likes to call him, the Master Criminal. His disguises and plots are ongoing joys of the series. When he shows up in The Painted Queen, it's with greater panache than ever before. There are thundering hooves. There are dramatic interventions. It's glorious. Those who know the rest of his story will revel in these moments.

So, in review, this book is everything I wanted the last Amelia Peabody novel to be. I'm sad that there won't be any more of her adventures, but I'm happy that The Painted Queen is such a fitting swan song. I am totally elated to have read it, and you will be too. It goes on sale July 25!

***SO MANY THANKS to William Morrow/Harper Collins Publishers who provided me with this free advance copy in exchange for an honest review show less

The final Amelia Peabody story (completed by Joan Hess after Elizabeth Peters passed away) is set in 1912. Amelia and Emerson are preparing for another season of excavating in Egypt. However, they aren't in Egypt two hours when the first assassin breaks into Amelia's bathing chamber and dies from a knife in the back. Amelia, being Amelia and not unfamiliar with being the target of assassins, takes this in stride.

Amelia and Emerson soon learn that she and Ramses are being targeted by the show more five remaining Godwin brothers who want revenge for the death of Nefret's villainous husband Geoffrey Godwin. The only distinguishing feature to identify the assassins is that they were monocles.

But assassins aside, Emerson and Amelia are directed to Amarna to check on excavations by Herr Morgenstern who has been behaving erratically. Apparently he has absconded to Cairo with a bust of Nefertiti that he found in his excavations. This sets Ramses and David on a quest to find the bust. Which they do, but not before uncovering a number of forgeries and villains who want the bust also.

Meanwhile, Morgenstern wanders in and out of danger apparently having some sort of mental episodes that leave him paranoid and confused. Amelia dashes into danger to save him a few times despite the threat of assassins.

I love this series and this final volume had all the things I love. The relationship between Amelia and Emerson is a a match of equals. Amelia is profoundly herself - entitled, decisive, and determined. She has a reckless disregard for her her own safety probably fostered by her belief that she is invincible.

The mystery with the many busts of Nefertiti and the actions of the hirsute missionary added interest. The inept assassins added both danger and humor.

Someday, I want to read this whole series again in internal chronological order to see how everyone changed and grew. show less

Claire Malloy, bookselling sleuth of the Farberville Book Depot, returns for her umpty-zillionth murder investigation (well, okay, only the sixteenth) but this time at a *shudder* Renaissance Faire!

Now seriously. Have any of y'all been to a Renaissance Faire? Have you not wished intensely for a lethal weapon and civil and criminal immunity? Milady Larchblossom and the Baron Quonsethut, oof! So as Claire snooped about, I found myself squirming in discomfort at the faux olde-tyme speak the show more cultists used (though not consistently, to the editor's lasting shame) and the instant sense memory of being at one of these events in Texas in heat just like Hess describes.

I can't think how anyone could *want* to don Northern European clothing from the era before central heating in the American South. My daughter, who belongs to one of these organizations and is quite renowned for her fighting prowess, will end up being Lanya (one of the characters) but hopefully with better-behaved children.

The mystery here is a murder; well, two; and the resolution was neat and tidy and strained credulity to the absolute minimum possible in a series where the sleuth is engaged to a police officer who does not chain her to her doorhandle to prevent her from messing around with crime.

I recommend this book without a blush. Newbies, start with "Strangled Prose" and move forward as haphazardly as you wish. show less

I am a sucker for good cozy mysteries, and Joan Hess’ Claire Malloy series is one of the best. I started at the beginning and have read a good number of the books, but I have missed the last few. I chose Murder As A Second Language for my morning walks and am glad I did. Light and engaging with a main character who is smart, savvy, sassy and a bit sarcastic, this novel kept me laughing and guessing as I racked up the miles. This is the first book I have read since Claire’s marriage to show more hunky Deputy Chief of Police, Peter Rosen. But not much has really changed; Claire is on her own quite a bit with her daughter Caron’s independent high school activities and Peter’s long hours on a murder case. Claire is especially nosy inquisitive and inserts herself wherever trouble is. The murder at the Literacy Council with all its feuding board members and international students is puzzling and kept me on my toes.

Recommended for fans of secular cozy mysteries.

Audience: adults. show less