The Mummy Case
Encyclopedia
The Mummy Case is the third of a series of mystery novels written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring the character Amelia Peabody
.
, return to Egypt
for the 1894-95 season http://www.ameliapeabody.com/timeline.htm to excavate the ruined pyramid
s of Mazghuna
h, which pale in comparison to the nearby dig at Dahshoor — but that is all Emerson could get after annoying the Department of Antiquities. On this trip, the Emersons bring along their young son Walter (aka Ramses
) and his cat Bastet, along with a sturdy footman to keep Ramses out of trouble. This is Ramses' first trip to Egypt, after studying and hearing about it for all his young life.
While in Cairo
, Amelia hears rumors of a scrap of papyrus
which no one will confess to owning, but which has the local antiquities dealers living in fear of the man who is after it.
No sooner does the family settle in near their dig than they are paid a visit by a group of American missionaries who have set up shop nearby, then the rival archaeologist who did get permission to dig at Dahshoor, then a German noblewoman with more money than taste...and then a thief who steals one of the objects the Emersons find at Mazghunah, a mummy case.
Amelia Peabody
Amelia Peabody Emerson is the protagonist of the Amelia Peabody series, a series of mystery novels, written by author Elizabeth Peters. Peabody is married to Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and has one biological child, Walter "Ramses" Peabody Emerson, who provides a parallel voice in many of the...
.
Plot summary
Amelia and her husband, Professor Radcliffe EmersonRadcliffe Emerson
Professor Radcliffe Archibald Emerson , M.A. Ox., D.C.L. , L.L.D. , F.B.A., FRS, FRGS, MAPS, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, Member of the American Philosophical Society, is one of the main characters in the Amelia Peabody series by mystery author Elizabeth Peters...
, return to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
for the 1894-95 season http://www.ameliapeabody.com/timeline.htm to excavate the ruined pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
s of Mazghuna
Mazghuna
Mazghuna , 5 km to the south of Dahshur , is the site of several mudbrick pyramids dating from the 12th Dynasty. The area was explored by Ernest Mackay in 1910, and was excavated by Flinders Petrie in 1911...
h, which pale in comparison to the nearby dig at Dahshoor — but that is all Emerson could get after annoying the Department of Antiquities. On this trip, the Emersons bring along their young son Walter (aka Ramses
Ramses Emerson
Walter Peabody Emerson, known universally as “Ramses,” is a fictional character in the Amelia Peabody series of mystery novels set in Victorian Egypt and England, written by author Elizabeth Peters. He is the son of Egyptologists Amelia Peabody and her husband, Professor Radcliffe Emerson...
) and his cat Bastet, along with a sturdy footman to keep Ramses out of trouble. This is Ramses' first trip to Egypt, after studying and hearing about it for all his young life.
- Ramses got off his donkey. Squatting, he began to sift through the debris...[He] held up an object that looked like a broken branch. "It is a femuw," he said in a trembling voice. "Excuse me, Mama - a femur, I meant to say." [...]
- Ramses rose obediently. The warm breeze of the desert ruffled his hair. His eyes glowed with the fervor of a pilgrim who has finally reached the Holy City. (TMC, chapter 5)
While in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Amelia hears rumors of a scrap of papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
which no one will confess to owning, but which has the local antiquities dealers living in fear of the man who is after it.
No sooner does the family settle in near their dig than they are paid a visit by a group of American missionaries who have set up shop nearby, then the rival archaeologist who did get permission to dig at Dahshoor, then a German noblewoman with more money than taste...and then a thief who steals one of the objects the Emersons find at Mazghunah, a mummy case.