On This Page
Description
Madame Sophie's usually brilliant mediumistic performance was spoiled by a sudden blackout and eerie, unexplained screams and knockings. Chan, the perfect Chinese butler, suddenly was no longer there. Neither was his silver salver. And when pretty Stanford University student Iris Cooper's beau, Clarence Brockhurst, took her upstairs to meet his mummy, they found that 5,000-year-old Ra-Hotep had been ousted from his sarcophagus by the dead body of a scantily clad young woman. Someone at the show more Brockhursts' palatial Burlingame, California estate that beautiful spring week in 1928 had committed the perfect crime-- without a weapon, without a motive. Was it, as Madame Sophie insisted, the mummy's curse? Or a cold, clever killer on the prowl? show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Iris Cooper is invited to stay with a fellow student, Clarence, at his family home in Burlingame, where he is probing the mystery of an Egyptian mummy that he has acquired. His eccentric family includes a mother fascinated by spiritualism who has a medium staying at the house. When the spiritualist's maid is found dead in the mummy's coffin, and reporter Jack Clancy appears on the police's coat tails to investigate, Iris knows she must join in, even if Clarence objects….The 2nd of 3, brings in casual racism and classism of the 1920s (a key figure is Chinese, and several characters have shady pasts), the resolution is fairly done, with a luscious twist. (Read on vacation, so truncated review.)
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
#MysteryBingo2021Silver(Revised)
36 works; 1 member
#ReadingBingo2021
25 works; 1 member
#JustTheFacts2021Silver
60 works; 1 member
#MysteryBingo2021Silver(Original)
36 works; 1 member
Author Information
21+ Works 1,008 Members
Kathrine Kristine Beck was born in Seattle, Washington, on September 22, 1950. She received a B.A. from San Francisco State University. Before becoming a full-time mystery writer, Beck wrote advertising copy and edited a trade magazine. At one point she also sold radio air time, an experience she was later to include in We Interrupt this show more Broadcast, a mystery set in a small, classical radio station. Beck's mysteries are usually written in a light-hearted vein. Her first mystery, Death in a Deck Chair, is an entertaining period piece set in the 1920s on a transatlantic ocean liner. The two main characters from that book, debutante college student Iris Cooper and brash young reporter Jack Clancy, reappear in some of her later books, including Murder in a Mummy Case and Peril Under the Palms. Another recurring character is Jane da Silva, a middle-aged widow who becomes involved with various mysteries after she inherits her uncle's estate and, along with it, his business, which was helping desperate people find a solution to their problems. Books in this series include A Hopeless Case and Amateur Night. Other books by Beck include The Revenge of Kali-Ra; Bad Neighbors; Cold Smoked; Electric City; Young Mrs. Cavendish and the Kaiser's Men; Unwanted Attentions; Without a Trace; Death of a Prom Queen, which was written under the pseudonym Marie Oliver, and The Tell-Tale Tattoo. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1986-08-12
- People/Characters
- Iris Cooper; Jack Clancy
- Important places
- Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA; Palo Alto, California, USA
- Dedication
- for the greatest mummy in the world
JEAN BECK
with love and thanks - First words
- I sat down at the little desk in the sitting room of the dormitory suite and unscrewed my fountain pen.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And then, surprised by my own boldness, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 63
- Popularity
- 492,807
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
