The finale of the Amelia Peabody series takes place in 1922 and centers around the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen. An argument with Howard Carter leaves the Emersons on the outside looking in but we do see some of the activities around the discovery.

The Emersons are busy with problems of their own when Sethos shows up fighting a bout of malaria and trailing villains who want to recover an encrypted note that he stole. When David arrives from England, he gets involved in the same issues that he was involved with as a younger man: encouraging Egyptian independence from the British, it looks like both David and Sethos are dealing with different aspects of the same plot.

There are a series of threats but not murders in this episode ruining the Emerson's murder-a-season record. The threats seem rather half-hearted and include kidnapping and then releasing the Emerson's butler among other sorts of nuisance threats.

One plot point concerns whether or not Sethos has really reformed and also deals with his relationship with his wife Margaret. Ramses isn't at all sure that Sethos's reformation is real since he could easily have arranged the threats without breaking his word to Amelia to leave the family alone.

I will miss the Peabody/Emersons. I wish that I could watch the grandchildren grow up past the age of six. I greatly enjoyed this series which was filled with interesting archaeological details and characters who will live forever in my memory. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2022/12/2022164-tomb-of-golden-bird-elizabeth.htm... ( )

Synopsis: 'The year is 1922, and renowned archaeologists Amelia Peabody Emerson and her irascible husband, known simply as Emerson, have arrived at their home in the Valley of the Kings, eager to follow up on their discovery of the year before.
Emerson has always suspected a specific mound as the tomb site, but since strict international laws dictate where an archaeologist can work,
any discovery must be credited to the license holder of the area. Much to Emerson's dismay and frustration, the rights to the site belong to an aging antiquities collector, Lord Carnarvon, who is purported to be giving up his rights to the site. Emerson longs to attain the license, but Carnarvon decides to give his expedition one more year, so Emerson can do nothing but look on in envy. He succeeds in insulting the chief excavator to the extent that he and his group are banned from the site. That does not keep the industrious group from finding ingenious ways to enter the tomb.
Meanwhile, the treacherous Sethos, Emerson's secret agent half-brother, becomes an unwelcome guest at the villa. He arrives in the deep of night, suffering from malaria and carrying a stolen encoded message from a band of political revolutionaries that he hopes Ramses, a code specialist, can unravel. The Middle East is in turmoil at the end of World War I, and Iraq and Egypt are still ruled by kings. Revolutionary forces from all sides, funded by wealthy industrialists with a thirst for oil, are attracting local thugs to do their dirty work, and Sethos, as usual, is in the thick of it.
Perhaps the most political of Amelia's adventures, this book offers delightful insights into the opening and cataloging of the tons of gold and antiquities from the glorious tomb of King Tut. The discovery of this tomb signals the beginning of the end of the great explorations in the Valley of the Kings. The auto is supplanting donkeys and horses as transportation. Electric lights erase the shadows from tombs once lit by torches.
It is the end of one era and the beginning of another. The first salvos are being fired in the unrest that, to this day, embroils that part of the world in relentless wars.
Review: I hate that this is the end of the series. However we are led to believe that Peabody and Emerson are getting back on The Amelia to sail into the future and more adventures. ( )

Amelia Peabody and family are only the observers this time when Howard Carter finds the tomb of Tuthankomen. There are mysteries all around as usual--threats and counter threats and then there is the holiday season to celebrate. New love and old love and a sweet surprise at the end. ( )

This book is chronogically the last in the Amelia Peabody series (the last book takes place 12 years earlier). I found the plot somewhat weaker than in the previous books but a weaker Amelia Peabody plot is still a good one. ( )