If any of you all are familiar with Amelia Peabody you will be saddened to learn that her creator, Elizabeth Peters, died yesterday at the age of 85.
Elizabeth Peters, whose real name was Barbara Mertz, wrote nineteen mysteries featuring the pyramid explorer and her Egyptologist
husband Emerson. The first in the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975), is set in 1884. The last in the series, published in 2010, is titled A River in the Sky and takes place in Palestine.
I have read a couple of the books in the series and found them to be very entertaining, full of humor, and history. I was fond of the stubborn, smart, energetic Amelia. Most notably, she shunned the corsets and fussy dress of the day as totally unsuited for a life among the ruins and sand.
Ms. Mertz wrote two other mystery series - which I was not familiar with until now. One features Vicky Bliss, an American art history professor, and another series features librarian Jacqueline Kirby. Both of those characters sound appealing and I will have to soon make their acquaintance.
Ms. Mertz also wrote romantic suspense novels under the name of Barbara Michaels.
Here is the link to the thoughtful obituary in the Washington Post: Barbara Mertz
