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Rating: 
Summary: A country house party in the *old* tradition
Review: After being wounded at the conclusion of the previous story, Meren needs to leave Memphis, rest, and recover his health - and not-so-incidentally orchestrate the transfer of extremely secret royal cargo from the former heretic capital city, Horizon of the Aten, to its new resting place in Thebes. What could go wrong during a nice quiet rest on the family estate in Abydos?
If you have to ask, you *must* come from a small family.
Meren's widowed sister Idut is in charge, training Meren's younger daughters Bener and Isis in estate management - and against Meren's express orders, she's organized a great feast of rejoicing, inviting most of Meren's extended family, including outspoken great-aunt Cherit, Meren's spoiled younger brother Nahkt (called Ra), and widowed Lady Bentana (Meren's female relatives think she'd make him an excellent wife). At the end of the list are the two names Meren least wants to hear this side of the halls of judgement: Hepu and Nebetta, who disowned their son Djet. Meren blames them for the suicide of the cousin who was far closer than his own younger brother. Even their surviving son Sennefer is warped, forever boasting of his sexual conquests while his embittered wife Anhai poisonously points out that he hasn't given *her* a single child in a dozen years of marriage, and threatens divorce. All this doesn't include two or three lawsuits, Anhai's maneuvering to get a good settlement, Hepu's agonizing habit of reading his own proverbs at banquets, Idut's new suitor Wah, Ra's drunken irresponsibility, and the young scribe Nu, who's been hanging around Bener lately - and the typical embarassment of much older relatives treating Meren like a toddler.
When one of Meren's more poisonous relatives turns up dead in the grainary, Meren is in charge of the investigation - after all, he's the local lord, and he's the Eyes and Ears of pharaoh anyway. I believe the body count in this story rises to 3 - and if *that* weren't enough, pharaoh himself clandestinely visits the area to check up on the transfer of the cargo. Meren has his hands full persuading Tutankhamun *not* to try to pass himself off as an ordinary nobleman so he can watch the investigation close up.
Some of the physical evidence is strange, giving Meren's physician a chance to shine. Kysen, after days of putting up with Meren's family's attitude - 'get rid of the adopted peasant, remarry, and father more sons' - exacts beautiful payback from the worst bully of the pack.
Even without Meren's own opinions on the ineffectiveness of torture in interrogation - having suffered it on the orders of Ahkenaten - he tends to encounter cases in this series wherein the suspects' position protects them from such indignities. In the case of some of his more trying relatives, though, he's not above making certain threats - and for any man who thinks improper thoughts about Meren's daughters, Meren gets downright graphic.
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Summary: Murder in Ancient Egypt
Review: As far as Lord Meren is concerned, there is not much reason for rejoicing in this entry in Lynda S. Robinson's series of mysteries set in ancient Egypt. The Egyptian noble, the "Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh," has planned a visit to his country estate, away from prying eyes at court. The visit is intended to be a well-earned vacation as well as a smoke screen for an unenviable task - that of moving the mummified bodies of royal relations of the present Pharaoh Tutankhamun to a new temple, where their ka, their spirit, will again lie undisturbed. To cover the seriousness of this mission, one that Tutankhamun's enemies would like to discover, Meren has his son Kysen superintend the transfer while he prepares for a quiet trip to the country.
That is the plan. What transpires is far from the intent of a simple visit home, as Meren is soon forced to assume his role as Pharaoh's special agent and solve another mystery, this one very close to home.
Robinson's command of her setting (she has a Ph.D. in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Archeology) enables her books to be splendid visual settings as well as rousing good suspense stories. In this entry readers are treated to the intimate details of the running of a Egyptian noble's great estate, and to more of the social customs of the upper class -- some of whom have more class than others.
The unveiling of the culprit seems obvious, then another murder is committed, and more death occurs before Meren finds himself face to face with treachery and deceit, two traits that seem to go hand in hand during Tutankhamun's reign. Readers can expect nothing to ever be as it seems in Meren's world, which should keep bookshelves stocked with Robinson's books for some time to come.
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Summary: I have a family like this!
Review: It just keeps getting worse and as more of the family shows up. Our hero can't get one moments peace and with about 100 different tasks to get done that could get him(and those close to him)killed, he really should strangle his sister.
In this outing, the plot within the storyline gets fleshed out more, what really happened to Queen Nefertiti and why dosen't anyone wish to talk of what they know.
Great story! Can't wait to read the rest.
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Summary: Family reunions and homicide: a surprisingly good fit
Review: Just what we all needed: persuasion that relatives have been insufferable for millenia. That's actually one of the most engaging elements of Robinson's Lord Meren mysteries, as each one finds the noble detective reflecting on his less-than-stellar childhood memories and current familial dynamics. As a result Meren's vivid character easily gains our sympathies, and his tenderness and struggles are sensibly drawn. He's in need of our sympathy especially in this installment, as his pleas for quiet and peace have been flouted for a vicious little circus of togetherness. Who permanently hushed up his sister-in-law's wicked tongue and dumped her in the granary? Which aunt, uncle or cousin is going to insult him next in his own house? And just what is that mysterious cargo? The mystery itself isn't the sharpest element here, but still, very well worth the read.
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Summary: Family reunions and homicide: a surprisingly good fit
Review: Just what we all needed: persuasion that relatives have been insufferable for millenia. That's actually one of the most engaging elements of Robinson's Lord Meren mysteries, as each one finds the noble detective reflecting on his less-than-stellar childhood memories and current familial dynamics. As a result Meren's vivid character easily gains our sympathies, and his tenderness and struggles are sensibly drawn. He's in need of our sympathy especially in this installment, as his pleas for quiet and peace have been flouted for a vicious little circus of togetherness. Who permanently hushed up his sister-in-law's wicked tongue and dumped her in the granary? Which aunt, uncle or cousin is going to insult him next in his own house? And just what is that mysterious cargo? The mystery itself isn't the sharpest element here, but still, very well worth the read.
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Summary: Typical Family
Review: Lord Meren is sent home to rest but his sister arranges a family reunion instead. How many of these characters actually come from your own extended family? I recognized the majority from mine <G>. This really makes Lord Meren into a human being rather than an historical personage. The series gets better with each book as I read them.
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Summary: Typical Family
Review: Lord Meren is sent home to rest but his sister arranges a family reunion instead. How many of these characters actually come from your own extended family? I recognized the majority from mine . This really makes Lord Meren into a human being rather than an historical personage. The series gets better with each book as I read them.
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Summary: Lord Meren is supposed to rest, but murder finds him again.
Review: Lord Meren was injured in the solving of the Murder at the God's Gate, and Pharoah has granted him a leave to journey to his home in the country and recover. Of course, Meren never rests, and this trip also has another purpose. The bodies of the heretic, Ahkenaten, and his queen, Nefertiti, are to be entombed near Meren's estate until a proper place for them can be constructed. Those who were injured during Ahkenatens rule tried to interrupt his eternal rest by disturbing the bodies and looting the tombs. It is most important to King Tut that his brother and sister-in-law are properly cared for in death.Unfortunately, Merens sister, Idut, has planned a feast for his homecoming despite his express directions to the contrary. His estate is crawling with relatives who squabble, meddle in his romantic life, and accuse him of shirking family duties. To make matters worse, Pharoah shows up, wanting to make sure the bodies are properly entombed. As Meren is at his wits end, his cousins wife turns up dead, her body found in a granery. There is no evidence of murder, but what was the woman doing there and how did she die? She did not lack for enemies, and Meren's job is made more difficult when his family members and friends become suspects.
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Summary: Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing
Review: This is the 3rd book that I've read in the series and I admit to reading all of them as quickly as possible. They were a wonderful glimpse into the life of thousands of years ago. Details of daily life that are given to us in the paintings and pieces that were left behind are wonderful. I'm looking foward to the ones I haven't read. I have no bones to pick at all with he great grasp of the time and the politics.
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Summary: Simply delightful read!
Review: What a delightful read! I've read them all now and I think this is the best one--and it is very good indeed. I whooshed through them all with complete delight, and this is the most endearing of the series; but it is also the best-constructed. By that I mean it is by far the best puzzle--for mystery fans like me--and the plot had the fewest holes. Some of the books are slow to start; this one is not. All of them have wonderful and gripping climaxes that solder you to the page. It will be much more enjoyable if you read the series in order, beginning with "Murder in the Place of Anubis," which is the weakest of the series, but still a delight and a pretty good mystery. The three books that follow this one are also beautifully done--but it's very easy to guess the "who's" from the "dunits." I can't wait for the next book. A very, very charming and beautifully narrated and imaginative series.
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