New Releases by Elizabeth Peters

An idealistic young woman finds working a political campaign can be murder in this romantic suspense novel by “a master storyteller” (Mary Higgins Clark). Young Erin Hartsock arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition—and little interest in politics. However, when she’s offered a position on a congresswoman’s campaign for the Senate, she’s more than happy to flee her dead-end job to take on what she expects will be boring administrative work . . . But as the campaign heats up, disturbing events follow. There’s a string of dangerous fires, a violent attack, and a seemingly accidental death. Erin begins to wonder about her colleagues all while they grow suspicious of her. Someone’s got a secret—and with the election looming, Erin must quickly uncover who’s behind the chaos before she becomes a prime candidate for murder. Previously published under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels Praise for New York Times–bestseller Elizabeth Peters and Smoke and Mirrors “[Peters] delivers another sure-fire winner in this romantic adventure set in the smoky, deceptive arena of American politics.” —Publishers Weekly

An Egyptologist investigates a death at the British Museum in a “charming” Victorian mystery by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Painted Queen (The Denver Post). Back in London after an archaeological dig, adventurous sleuth Amelia Peabody—“rather like Indiana Jones, Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple all rolled into one”—discovers that a night watchman at the museum has perished in the shadow of a mummy case (The Washington Post Book World). There are murmurings about an ancient curse, but a skeptical Amelia is determined to find an all-too-human killer. Soon, she’s balancing family demands, including the troubles of her precocious son, Ramses (aka Walter), with not just one unsolved crime, but two . . . From a recipient of multiple honors including the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, this murder mystery set in Victorian-era England is a witty, rollicking, and “deeply satisfying” romp (Entertainment Weekly) in a “jewel of a series” (The New York Times Book Review).

Egypt, 1912—Amelia Peabody and her dashing archeologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, are once again in danger as they search for a priceless, stolen bust of legendary Queen Nefertiti and Amelia finds herself the target of assassins in this long-awaited, eagerly anticipated final installment of Elizabeth Peters’ bestselling, beloved mystery series. Arriving in Cairo for another thrilling excavation season, Amelia is relaxing in a well-earned bubble bath in her elegant hotel suite in Cairo, when a man with knife protruding from his back staggers into the bath chamber and utters a single word—"Murder"—before collapsing on the tiled floor, dead. Among the few possessions he carried was a sheet of paper with Amelia’s name and room number, and a curious piece of pasteboard the size of a calling card bearing one word: "Judas." Most peculiarly, the stranger was wearing a gold-rimmed monocle in his left eye. It quickly becomes apparent that someone saved Amelia from a would-be assassin—someone who is keeping a careful eye on the intrepid Englishwoman. Discovering a terse note clearly meant for Emerson—Where were you?"—pushed under their door, there can be only one answer: the brilliant master of disguise, Sethos. But neither assassins nor the Genius of Crime will deter Amelia as she and Emerson head to the excavation site at Amarna, where they will witness the discovery of one of the most precious Egyptian artifacts: the iconic Nefertiti bust. In 1345 B.C. the sculptor Thutmose crafted the piece in tribute to the great beauty of this queen who was also the chief consort of Pharaoh Akhenaten and stepmother to King Tutankhamun. For Amelia, this excavation season will prove to be unforgettable. Throughout her journey, a parade of men in monocles will die under suspicious circumstances, fascinating new relics will be unearthed, a diabolical mystery will be solved, and a brilliant criminal will offer his final challenge . . . and perhaps be unmasked at last.

At the start of this fourteenth adventure for Amelia, which continues the wartime theme begun in Lord of the Silent, it is New Year's Eve, 1917. Risking winter storms and German torpedoes, the Emersons are heading for Egypt once again: Amelia, Emerson, their son Ramses and his wife Nefret. Emerson is counting on a long season of excavation without distractions but this proves to be a forlorn hope. Yet again they unearth a dead body in a looted tomb - not a mummified one though, this one is only too fresh, and it leads the clan on a search for the man who has threatened them with death if they pursue the excavations. If that wasn't distraction enough, Nefret reveals a secret she has kept hidden: there is reason to believe that Sethos, master criminal and spy may be helping the enemy. It's up to the Emersons to find out, and either prove his innocence or prevent him from betraying Britain's plans to take Jerusalem and win the war in the Middle East.

Prospects for the 1907 archaeological season in Egypt are looking somewhat dull to Amelia. As a result of Emerson's less-than-diplomatic behaviour, they have been demoted to examining only the most boring tombs in the Valley of the Kings - mere leftovers, really. And then, in a seedy section of Cairo, the younger members of the Peabody Emerson clan purchase a mintcondition papyrus of the famed Book of the Dead, the collection of magical spells and prayers designed to ward off the perils of the underworld and lead the deceased into everlasting life. But for as long as there have been graves, there have also been grave robbers - and so begins a new adventure into antiquity. The season rapidly switches from dull to deadly as Amelia strives to untangle a web woven of criminals and cults, stolen treasures and fallen women - all the while under the unblinking eye of a ruthless, remorseless killer.

In this latest Amelia Peabody mystery there's more trouble in store for our intrepid Egyptologist. This time it is of a distinctly personal nature. Her niece's new, Egyptian, husband stands accused of forging priceless antiquities. Is he guilty, or merely the fall guy for some unscrupulous villain? Meanwhile, matters are complicated by the arrival of Amelia's detestable nephew who begins an ardently amorous pursuit of her son's wife, Nefret...

A new heroine from the creator of the internationally bestselling Amelia Peabody series A missing masterwork in wood, the last creation of a master carver who died in the violent tumult of sixteenth century Germany, may be hidden in the medieval castle in the town of Rothenburg. The prize has called to Vicky Bliss, drawing her and an arrogant male colleague into the forbidding citadel and its dark secrets. But the treasure hunt soon turns deadly. Here, where the blood of the long forgotten stains ancient stones, Vicky must face two perilous possibilities: either a powerful supernatural evil inhabits the place... or someone frighteningly real is willing to kill for what Vicky is determined to find.

What did it mean? The note with the hieroglyphs was found in the pocket of a man lying dead in an alley. The only other item of interest on him was a piece of jewellery, a reproduction of the Charlemagne talisman, but so well done that Vicky Bliss thought she was being shown the real thing. The gold work had been done by a master craftsman; the stones were of top quality synthetic...Vicky didn't know what it meant yet, but ion the sundrenched streets and moonlit courtyards of Rome, she was going to find out - if the dangerously exciting Englishman didn't get in her way!

The Great War has ended at last. No longer must archaeologist Amelia Peabody and her husband, Emerson, the distinguished Egyptologist, fear for the life of their daring son, Ramses, now free from his dangerous wartime obligations to British Intelligence. But in the aftermath of conflict, evil still casts a cold shadow over violence-scarred Egypt. The theft of valuable antiquities from the home of a friend causes great concern in the Emerson household. Ramses’s strange encounter with a woman costumed in the veil and gold crown of the goddess Hathor only deepens the mystery. And the brutal death of the suspected thief washes the unsettling affair in blood—setting Amelia on a terrifying collision course with an adversary more fiendish and formidable than any she has ever encountered.

What lies beneath . . . At first, Jean Suttman thought she had died and gone to heaven when she was granted the opportunity to study in Rome. But the body that’s lying in the ancient subterranean Temple of Mithra—the murdered corpse of a repulsive and disliked fellow student—is far from her idea of heavenly. Now she’s truly frightened, and not just because small “accidents” seem to be occurring around her with disturbing regularity. It’s the ever-increasing certainty that someone, for some unknown reason, is ruthlessly determined to do her harm. Jean’s innocent underground excursion into a sacred pagan place has trapped her in something dark and terrifying, and even the knowledge that practical, perceptive fellow American Jacqueline Kirby is on the case won’t ease her fears. Because there’s only so far Jean Suttman can run . . . and no escape for her except death.

Bestselling author Peters brings back 19th-century Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and her entourage in a delicious caper that digs up mystery in the shadow of the pyramids.

A masked stranger offers to reveal an Egyptian queen's lost tomb...and Amelia Peabody and her irascible archeologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, are intrigued, to say the least. When the guide mysteriously disappears before he tells his secret, the husband-and-wife team sail to Thebes to follow his trail, helped-and hampered-by their teenage son, Ramses, and beautiful ward, Nefret. But before the sands of time shift very far, all will be risking their lives foiling murderers, kidnappers, grave robbers, and ancient curses. And the Hippopotamus Pool? It's a legend of war and wits that Amelia is translating, one that alerts her to a hippo of a different type-a nefarious, overweight art dealer who may become her next archenemy!

A classic mystery tale from prolific New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Peters. Ellie is young, rich, engaged and in love. These are the carefree days before marriage and new responsibility, and anything goes -- including house-sitting at eccentric Aunt Kate's palatial estate in Burton, Virginia. Ellie feels right at home here with the nearly invisible housekeepers and the plethora of pets, but she soon realizes that there are disturbing secrets about the local aristocracy buried in a dusty old book she has carried into the mansion. And her sudden interest in the past is attracting a slew of unwelcome guests -- some of them living and some, perhaps not. And the terrible vengeance that Ellie and her friends seem to have aroused -- now aimed at them -- surely cannot be...satanic.

For the first time in more than a decade, New York Times bestselling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters brings beautiful, brainy Vicky Bliss back into the spotlight for one last investigation. But this time the peerless art historian and sleuth will be detecting in Amelia Peabody territory, searching for solutions to more than one heinous offense in the ever-shifting sands of Egypt's mysterious Valley of the Kings. Who stole one of Egypt's most priceless treasures? That is the question that haunts the authorities after a distinguished British gentleman with an upper-crust accent cons his way past a security guard and escapes into the desert carrying a world-famous, one-of-a-kind historic relic. But the Egyptian authorities and Interpol believe they know the identity of the culprit. The brazen crime bears all the earmarks of the work of one “Sir John Smythe,” the suave and dangerously charming international art thief who is, in fact, John Tregarth, the longtime significant other of Vicky Bliss. But John swears he is retired—not to mention innocent—and he vows to clear his name by hunting down the true criminal. Vicky's faith in her man's integrity leaves her no choice but to take a hiatus from her position at a leading Munich museum and set out for the Middle East. Vicky's employer, the eminent Herr Doktor Anton Z. Schmidt, rotund gourmand and insatiable adventurer, decides to join the entourage. But dark days and myriad dangers await them in this land of intriguing antiquity. Each uncovered clue seems to raise even more questions for the intrepid Vicky—the most troubling being, Where is John going during his increasingly frequent and unexplained absences? And the stakes are elevated considerably when a ransom note arrives accompanied by a grisly memento intended to speed up negotiations—because now it appears that murder most foul has been added to the equation.

There's more trouble in store for an intrepid Egyptologist. This time it is of a distinctly personal nature. Her niece's new, Egyptian, husband stands accused of forging priceless antiquities. Is he guilty, or merely the fall guy for some unscrupulous villain?

Intrepid archaeologist/sleuth Amelia Peabody and her family, back in Egypt in 1914 for another season of archaeological excavation, become caught up in the political turmoil sweeping the country, and when an exquisite artifact from a Giza dig is found where it ought not be, Amelia realizes her villainous arch-nemesis Sethos is at work.

It is 1914 and Amelia Peabody and her husband are back in Egypt for archaeological excavations. But she finds it difficult to concentrate on pyramids when her children are in trouble and Cairo teems with enemy agents.

Dinah van der Lyn, vacationing in Jerusalem, is pulled into a dangerous mystery when she hears angry voices through the wall of her hotel room, and a cry for help in English.

Fatherhood: Research, Interventions, and Policies addresses the central questions of the role of fathers: What is the impact of father involvement on child outcomes? What factors predict increased involvement of fathers? This volume includes contributions by leading scholars in a multitude of fields. The discussion of fatherhood ranges well beyond the case of intact, middle-class, white families to include fathers from many other situations and ethnic groups. This comprehensive, powerful book combines pioneering empirical research with thoughtful consideration of the social and psychological implications of fatherhood.

Amelia finds adventure and danger in the Valley of the Kings.

Althea Tomlinson came back to Egypt as just another tourist, showing the country to a spoiled seventeen year old. But what really drove her was a desire to discover the truth behind her father's disgrace and subsequent death.

Jessica Tregarth goes to England to visit her grandfather and learn more about her late father's family. But Jessica is barely off the boat before she and ingenious author David Randall are playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse through Cornwall.

American librarian Jacqueline Kirby is fascinated by the assembled guests at an English country mansion who have assumed the dress and lifestyle of Richard III's court, until someone decides to recreate his historic crimes.