The Last Camel Died at Noon

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Summary: A mystery as timeless as human greed and revenge!
Review: An enigmatic message scrawled on papyrus and a cryptic map trigger a desperate expedition to find a lost couple who have been missing in the war-torn Sudan for more than ten years. Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, her husband Emerson, and her son Ramses, are in dire straits on the sun-scorched desert sands when their last camel dies as they are deep in Nubia's vast waste land. Their very survival depends on Amelia being able to solve a mystery as old as ancient Egypt and as timeless as human greed and revenge! The Last Camel Died At Noon is a superbly written mystery by Elizabeth Peters given a flawless narrative performance by Susan O'Malley, and a technically excellent eleven compact disc audiobook format from Blackstone Audiobooks. The Last Camel Died At Noon is also available in a nine 90 minute cassette audiobook format as well (...).

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Summary: A wild jaunt through the desert with Amelia Peabody.
Review: I collect the Amelia Peabody books faithfully. Often I don't read them at once, but wait for a few to accumulate and settle down for an enjoyable interlude with Peabody, her redoubtable husband Emerson, and their son, Ramses. I've had this book for quite some time (four more have been published since its release), and was only sorry that I'd waited to read it. Surely this is the best Peabody yet. The book is a send up of the Haggard novels, King Solomon's Mine and SHE, complete with erudite and noble natives, riots, wars, ancient mysteries, improbable situations and the incomparable Amelia and her belt with things that she's sure that she'll need, attached, including a revolver, sewing kit, knife, compass, and mini-surgery kit. Peabody's companions are her husband, Emerson, who has a meteoric temper but considers himself a mild fellow (the natives call him the Father of Curses) and their son, called Ramses (who inherited this name because his young profile resembled that great Pharoah, complete with 'rather largish features'). In this installment, they're off to search for a missing Englishman and his bride, who have been missing for 14 years. Their camels mysteriously die and it looks as though they will, too, but then, things really get interesting. Nothing compares with the humor in this series and although you may find yourself thinking that the language is a little too like a Bronte novel to suit you, you'll more regularly find that you've awakened your sleeping spouse, again, by laughing too hard. All of the main characters are admirable, certainly people you'd like to meet - that luncheon engagement would surely be riotous. Run out now, buy this book, and settle in for several hours of pure fun.

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Summary: Enter Nefret...
Review: In this engaging mystery Amelia Peabody Emerson, her husband Radcliffe, and their son "Ramses" journey once more to Egypt in search of artifacts and adventure, armed with a mysterious map and a commission from an English aristocrat to search for his long lost son and his wife. As in all Peabody mysteries, these goals intertwine with complexity and speed.

Elizabeth Peters here gives a nod to the romantic adventure stories of the late nineteenth century (such as She, by Rider Haggard) when the Peabody-Emerson caravan begins to suffer from the mysterious deaths of their camels. When all looks dark and desperate, the group are rescued and whisked off to a fabulous Shangrila where the ancient rites of Egypt are still practiced. By the end the Emerson's have solved the mystery of the missing nobleman and his wife, have amassed quite a collection of artifacts for study, and Ramses is suffering from a bad case of puppy love for Nefret, who returns with them to England.

This is the first story to feature Nefret, and fans of the later books will like to read how she enters the story. If you enjoyed Romancing the Stone (a similar tale with elements of late 19th century adventure) and have never tried the Amelia Peabody mysteries, this would be a great place to start!

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Summary: This is pure adventure in its best form.
Review: In this engaging mystery Amelia Peabody Emerson, her husband Radcliffe, and their son "Ramses" journey once more to Egypt in search of artifacts and adventure, armed with a mysterious map and a commission from an English aristocrat to search for his long lost son and his wife. As in all Peabody mysteries, these goals intertwine with complexity and speed.

Elizabeth Peters here gives a nod to the romantic adventure stories of the late nineteenth century (such as She, by Rider Haggard) when the Peabody-Emerson caravan begins to suffer from the mysterious deaths of their camels. When all looks dark and desperate, the group are rescued and whisked off to a fabulous Shangrila where the ancient rites of Egypt are still practiced. By the end the Emerson's have solved the mystery of the missing nobleman and his wife, have amassed quite a collection of artifacts for study, and Ramses is suffering from a bad case of puppy love for Nefret, who returns with them to England.

This is the first story to feature Nefret, and fans of the later books will like to read how she enters the story. If you enjoyed Romancing the Stone (a similar tale with elements of late 19th century adventure) and have never tried the Amelia Peabody mysteries, this would be a great place to start!

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Summary: Suspenseful Look at a Hidden Kingdom
Review: One of the great traditions of adventure novels has been to take "civilized" people into hidden places where primitive people live a different way. In the process, readers learn a lot about themselves and the ways that "civilization" needs to be improved. Lost Horizons is one of the most famous of such stories. In an earlier time, H. Rider Haggard wrote his remarkable book, She, in this genre which seems to have been a direct inspiration for The Last Camel Died at Noon based on comments by the author in the acknowledgments and the book's story. But if you know "She," you will not necessarily be able to anticipate what happens in this story.

If you have read no other books in this series, I suggest that you move back to the beginning in The Crocodile on the Sandbank and read the four subsequent novels before reading this one. The books build on one another, and deserve sequential reading for the most pleasure and understanding.

Amelia Peabody, her husband Emerson and their son Ramses are among the most distinctive and entertaining characters to ever populate a historical mystery novel, and they are as delightful as possible in playing their assigned roles in The Last Camel Died at Noon.

The Emersons find themselves drawn to the Sudan in an unusual adventure. Progress by British troops has reopened such of the historical sites, and the Emersons race behind the sloppy Budge to record what they find there. While planning the trip, they are importuned to help search for the lost explorer, Willoughby Forth, and his new bride, who have not been seen since they left on a trip into the Sudan fourteen years earlier. While in the Sudan, the Emersons find evidence that perhaps it may be possible to find the Forths. After a relative of the Forths disappears into the desert where he is attacked by raiders, the Emersons resolve to follow. Soon, their last camel dies at noon. What will happen next?

The story is quite intriguing and develops many aspects of archeology that I enjoyed. My only complaint was that the precocious Ramses was a little too precocious in the role that he played in this book. It just didn't ring true in places. The story, however, is a rich and interesting one. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful Look at a Hidden Kingdom
Review: One of the great traditions of adventure novels has been to take "civilized" people into hidden places where primitive people live a different way. In the process, readers learn a lot about themselves and the ways that "civilization" needs to be improved. Lost Horizons is one of the most famous of such stories. In an earlier time, H. Rider Haggard wrote his remarkable book, She, in this genre which seems to have been a direct inspiration for The Last Camel Died at Noon based on comments by the author in the acknowledgments and the book's story. But if you know "She," you will not necessarily be able to anticipate what happens in this story.

If you have read no other books in this series, I suggest that you move back to the beginning in The Crocodile on the Sandbank and read the four subsequent novels before reading this one. The books build on one another, and deserve sequential reading for the most pleasure and understanding.

Amelia Peabody, her husband Emerson and their son Ramses are among the most distinctive and entertaining characters to ever populate a historical mystery novel, and they are as delightful as possible in playing their assigned roles in The Last Camel Died at Noon.

The Emersons find themselves drawn to the Sudan in an unusual adventure. Progress by British troops has reopened such of the historical sites, and the Emersons race behind the sloppy Budge to record what they find there. While planning the trip, they are importuned to help search for the lost explorer, Willoughby Forth, and his new bride, who have not been seen since they left on a trip into the Sudan fourteen years earlier. While in the Sudan, the Emersons find evidence that perhaps it may be possible to find the Forths. After a relative of the Forths disappears into the desert where he is attacked by raiders, the Emersons resolve to follow. Soon, their last camel dies at noon. What will happen next?

The story is quite intriguing and develops many aspects of archeology that I enjoyed. My only complaint was that the precocious Ramses was a little too precocious in the role that he played in this book. It just didn't ring true in places. The story, however, is a rich and interesting one. I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Adventure in the Desert
Review: The Amelia Peabody series, of which this is the 6th, is one of my favorites in mystery fiction. By all means, if you haven't already done so, begin with the first book of the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank. This one, The Last Camel ..., is a little different from the previous five mysteries. This is an adventure story in the tradition of H. Rider Haggard, set in one of Earth's unexplored corners, the deserts of Sudan. Giving us a change of pace, as well as introducing a new character, who (I assume) will be important in succeeding volumes, this installment is not to be missed by Peabody fans. With regret, however, I felt that some of the touches that added to the delight of the previous volumes became a bit stale in this one, such as Amelia's admiration of Emerson's physique and her often repeated coy Victorian references to bedtime activities. At 10, Ramses seems hardly older than he was at a precocious seven. Even so, I can't wait to find out what happens next.

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Summary: Humorous Mystery with Archaeology on the Side
Review: The Last Camel Died at Noon is a delightful entry into the Amelia Peabody series of books. Elizabeth Peters hit upon a magic formula like other mystery and adventure writers before her. Peters' formula is to combine exotic North African locations, late-19th Century/early 20th Century settings, which we can all look at with a combination of superiority and nostalgia, truly eccentric characters, and small bits of archaeology and history for good measure. It works every time.

In this book, Peabody and her husband Emerson are sent to the Sudan to find out what has happened to a long-disappeared archaeologist and his young bride. The story evokes not only the books of H. Rider Haggard, as many reviewers have commented, but the saga of Henry Stanley searching for Doctor Livingstone (Stanley actually is discussed briefly in the book).

Peabody and Emerson's quest quickly runs into problems when all of their camels die in the desert far away from water. They are rescued and led to a wonderful, if implausible, area in which the natives are descendants of ancient Egyptian/Sudanese royalty and continue to worship the ancient gods and live according to ancient traditions.

Peabody and Emerson's reaction to their archaeological finds as well as their work to solve the mystery of their predecessor's disappearance makes for a great read.

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Summary: Worst Book in the Series
Review: The Last Camel Died at Noon is by far the worst book in the series. I am an avid fan of Amelia Peabody and her adventures, but this particular book drags... The only redeeming feature of this novel is that it introduces Nefret. To add to the boring story line, the pages of my book fell out of the binding while I was reading it the first time (I have never read it again...)

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Summary: A Pretty Good Adventure Story, if a Little Long.
Review: This book is more of an adventure story than it is a mystery. Although it gets a bit slow in the middle, it still is pretty good. Amelia and Emerson are wonderful as usual in this. The thing I really like about these stories is the way these two complement each other when they are solving their mysteries or pursuing their adventures together. In this book, we see Amelia and Emerson as well as their son Ramses on a wild hunt through the desert. They are going to find out what happened to a friend of Emerson's that disappeared with his wife about 10 years ago. Everyone thought they had died, but his father is sure that he's alive. The humour is just as apparent in this book as in others, and the story is fun. Amelia and her family are placed in danger again, but they manage to overcome as usual. This was not my favourite Peabody mystery, if only because I had figured out the plot twists and turns before they happened, but it's still fun nevertheless.