Mummy Dearest

This was so much fun, it almost makes up for no Amelia Peabody book (written by Elizabeth Peters) this year. I got to visit Luxor again. I enjoy all of Joan Hess's books and was so excited to finally get this one that I just opened it and started reading. By the time I was on page 50 it felt so familiar that I had to stop and investigate. I turned back to the front of the book and found that it was dedicated to Barbara Mertz also known as the Elizabeth Peters mentioned above. And in the endnotes you find that Joan Hess actually went to Luxor with Barbara Mertz/Miss Peters -- what a dream trip! I really enjoyed the book but I kept expecting Amelia and Emerson (from the Peters' books) to suddenly appear at one of the cocktail get-togethers. They would have had to time-travel forward 80 years but it would have been great. (I think maybe a descendant was there.) The names and characters and settings were all so familiar and to have Claire, Peter, Caron and Inez there was twice as fun. Peter and Claire are finally married, she gets involved with stuff she shouldn't, as usual. Bringing Inez and Caron along on the honeymoon was hilarious. I'm still not sure who two of the English women were (red herrings, I guess). But I did enjoy the book a lot. It will be fun to see if Miss Hess stays with this storyline with Peter as CIA (or whatever) and lets Claire travel to solve more international mysteries or takes them back home to Arkansas and the bookstore. -cba

Joan Hess is my favourite author, her humour and skilful writing bringing her zany plots to life. Before I received this book, I had just re-read her The night-blooming cereus (a Theo Bloomer mystery) she wrote under the name Joan Hadley, and this latest and most rounded of the Claire Malloy series reminds me very much of the earlier book. I think it is a great blend of humour and mystery and an introduction to Egypt; I found her view of Egypt and tourism very informative, as well as giving opportunity for crazy sub-plots and even crazier people. Not her funniest, but her most thoughtful.

Finally Claire Malloy, bookstore owner in the small college town of Farberville, Arkansas, and mother to Caron, one of the more outrageous teens in existence, has married her long suffering boyfriend, Lt. Peter Rosen of the Farberville Police Department. They are on their honeymoon in Luxor, Egypt. Well, Claire, Caron and her best friend Inez, are on a honeymoon, Peter seems to be called away frequently on some mysterious government business. Ever since he had some FBI training, he has been secretive and acting very peculiar. Claire is left staying at the luxurious old Winter Palace and doing her best to avoid a coterie of eccentric archaeologists, British expatriates and odd collectors: Lord Bledrock and his handsome n'er-do-well son Alexander; the strange Mrs. McHaver and her daughter Miriam; Magritta and Shannon King, both working on the excavation funded by Lord Bledrock and sponsored by a small American college; and the obnoxious Texan developer, Sitterman. There are also several odd Americans, Buffy and her boyfriend Samuel-are they really tourists? No one is what they seem. Everyone appears to be putting on an act. Claire hears all about the death of Oskar, Magritta's late husband, in a suspicious fall at the excavation site three months previously. Then Dr. Shannon King is found dead in a similar manner at the excavation site after a remarkable find is made. During a tour of Abu Simbal, several scruffy young locals on horseback kidnap Buffy. Caron and Inez are hours late from an evening out at a local party with friends. Peter is concerned about terrorists. What more could go wrong? Humorous, with loads of amusing characters and situations, Hess will have you giggling and guessing your way to the very end. Lady Amanda Peabody Emerson makes an appearance as an expert in Egyptian antiquities, carrying a parasol, and lending an air of professionalism-an homage to the Elizabeth Peters Lady Amelia Peabody series! Armchair Interviews says: Joan Hess does it again with her Claire Malloy mystery.

CLAIRE MALLOY MOVES HER ZANY MYSTERY ANTICS FROM FARBERVILLE TO EGYPT ON HER HONEYMOON. OF COURSE SHE GETS MIXED UP IN A MYSTERY. YOU WILL ENJOY IT. I DID

Joan Hess writes wonderfully funny mysteries. Usually when characters are taken away from their normal 'beat', the story suffers. This book, Mummy Dearest is an exception. It has a great story with a cast of wonderful characters. A real pleasure to read. I was sorry to see it end.