The Hippopotamus Pool

This eighth in the Amelia Peabody series takes place in 1900. Amelia, Emerson, and their children Ramses and Nefret are in Egypt hunting for a queen's tomb. But they are not the only ones on the trail. Not one, but two sets of villains have plans for the Emersons.

When a mysterious stranger invades their hotel room and offers to give them directions to a tomb not yet discovered and then disappears, the Emerson are off to Thebes. There they discover a villain creating forgeries and his apprentice who is Abdullah's grandson David. They rescue David from the forger and Ramses becomes his blood brother. Emerson is less eager to trust the young boy.

Walter and Evelyn Emerson also join them in Egypt once the tomb has been discovered. Evelyn show more has been in a state of depression since the death of one of young children and Emerson is hoping that the work in Egypt will help her out of it. Evelyn and Walter are estranged when the story begins but through the story, she exposes depths of character that Amelia wasn't aware of when she takes part in Amelia's adventures.

With both Ramses and Nefret kidnapped in this adventure - though by two different sets of villains -- the action is fast-paced and furious in this story. The descriptions of the search for the lost tomb and the treasures they find within it was also engrossing.

This was another excellent entry into the series as Amelia's voice and viewpoint are always entertaining. show less

Emerson has a mysterious visitor who claims to be a reincarnation of a priest from the time of Queen Tetisheri, produces a genuine artefact from her tomb, and promises to reveal its location. Unfortunately he disappears before he can do so. But Emerson and Peabody try and find it with the usual interruptions from not just one but two rival gangs of criminals.

I found the story rather a muddle in this one, but let's face it, the stories are just an excuse to meet Amelia Peabody and her family again.

This eighth novel of the series is set on the cusp of the twentieth century. It is an almost paradigmatic Amelia Peabody tale, with the highest stakes in conventional Egyptology of any of them so far: the tomb of a queen with a sarcophagus unopened since antiquity. The whole multigenerational Emerson-Peabody clan is involved, and the children Ramses and Nefret (along with newcomer David) are now teenagers.

Peters disappointed me by showing some sloppy research: she called a copy of Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled a "slim volume"! (It's hardly such a scarce commodity that she couldn't have found out firsthand the beefiness of its two volumes.)

Again, as in the previous book, a couple of useful maps are included--but at arbitrary points in the show more text which are not noted in any apparatus. A new feature is a dramatis personae list with descriptions prefaced to the novel. For those who resent spoilers (most mystery readers, I would presume), I recommend not reading this list at the outset, although I suppose it might be useful to those coming to the book without having read earlier volumes of the series. Did the author doubt her own efficiency of exposition with respect to the recurring characters? Still, it's hard for me to see the value of "Characters Appearing or Referred to in The Hippopotamus Pool," and I will certainly skip any similar offerings in later books.

The chapter titles are all quoted from the text, and they give a good sense of the witty tone, from "The Trouble with Unknown Enemies Is that They Are So Difficult to Identify" to "No Mystery Is Insoluble--It Is Simply a Matter of How Much Time and Energy One Is Willing to Expend." show less

Some series get "out of breath" so to speak really fast. This is not the case here. The Hippopotamus Pool is the eigth book in the Amelia Peabody series and the mystery and adventures are as fresh as in the first book. The plot was well constructed and I was surprised and delighted by the new kind of criminals she introduced in her book (I don't want to give much away). It's a real delight to see that family evolve in time and to feel the archaelogical fever through their eyes.

One of the best things about this book is the expanded cast of characters - Ramses and Nefret are old enough to be interesting, David is introduced, and Walter & Evelyn take up active roles in Egypt again. It makes for an interesting ensemble. Also fun is the fact that Emerson finally gets to make a major archeological discovery. Character interaction definitely makes this novel worth the read.

More adventures with the Emerson's in Egypt. A lot happens while on their latest dig: Emerson's brother Walter and his wife Evelyn are on the scene and not as the happy couple we are used to, Ramses gets kidnapped - as well as Nefret - and Amelia and Emerson take on the criminal class of Luxor. All told with the usual humor these books are known for. Amelia's narration by Barbara Rosenblat is fabulous as ever. Great fun though the actual plot is a bit murky and forgettable.

Back to Egypt again for the entire Emerson clan. This time they take to the water as Emerson has bought Amelia's dahabeeyah from the first book, renaming her Amelia Peabody Emerson. They sail for Thebes, where they are joined by Walter and Evelyn, as Walter hopes to excavate a previously undiscovered tomb, which may be at risk from tomb robbers. The usual mayhem ensues, they encounter old friends and enemies, and by the end of the book it looks as if there may be at least one addition to the clan. Wonderful fun.