Edition: Chivers, 1998 (Buy from Amazon)
Review number: 973
Each of the now lengthy list of Amelia Peabody novels is a light, enjoyable mystery set against the background of late nineteenth century archaeology in Egypt, memorable for the opinionated proto-feminist narrator. By this point, her son Ramses, for long the focal point of much of the series' humour, has nearly grown up (at sixteen), and her "memoirs" are now supplemented by excerpts from a "manuscript" by him, which gives a very different view of what is going on.
The plot bears some similarity to the story of the supposedly Persian mummy from Pakistan which turned out to be a modern body. Here, Peabody and her husband find a body which is more obviously recent, and this sets her off on a trail of detection combined with interference in the affairs of everyone around her. Enough explanation is given for cross references to make sense even to a newcomer to Peters or to someone, like myself, who has only read a selection, though it is clear that there would be something to be gained by greater familiarity with the earlier Peabody novels. All of Peters' writing is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the Peabody novels rather less so than some, and here the trademark sharp dialogue is in evidence combined with a plot complex enough for a serious thriller; it is one of the best in the series.
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 October 2001
Friday, 17 August 2001
Michael Pearce: The Mamur Zapt and the Girl in the Nile (1991)
Edition: HarperCollins, 1991 (Buy from Amazon)
Review number: 910
When the body of a girl is reported to have fallen overboard from the yacht of the influential Prince Narouz (a potential heir of the Khedive) and then disappears, the Mamur Zapt (the head of the Egyptian secret police) knows that he faces an investigation fraught with political complications - life as usual, in fact.
And this is business as usual for Pearce. The Girl in the Nile is another amusing crime novel, with the excellently drawn background of Edwardian Egypt. This novel may just be repeating the formula, but it is a winning formula.
Review number: 910
When the body of a girl is reported to have fallen overboard from the yacht of the influential Prince Narouz (a potential heir of the Khedive) and then disappears, the Mamur Zapt (the head of the Egyptian secret police) knows that he faces an investigation fraught with political complications - life as usual, in fact.
And this is business as usual for Pearce. The Girl in the Nile is another amusing crime novel, with the excellently drawn background of Edwardian Egypt. This novel may just be repeating the formula, but it is a winning formula.
Wednesday, 1 August 2001
Ahdaf Soueif: The Map of Love (1999)
Review number: 890
One of the books written in the last few years that I have most enjoyed was The God of Small Things. I wanted to read The Map of Love as it had received reviews making it sound similar, but now that I have I am rather disappointed. Some related themes - post colonialism written about from the point of view of the inhabitants of the former colony; the reaction of ancient civilisations to European control - has led to the novels provoking superficially the same reaction, though to me The God of Small Things is better written and immensely more interesting in what it has to say.
The Map of Love contains two parallel stories. In the early 1900s, young English widow Lady Anna Winterbourne moves to Cairo, and falls in love with Egyptian nobleman Shari Basha al-Baroudi. The two almost completely separate British and Egyptian communities in the city find this extremely difficult to deal with, and Anna is ostracised. In 1997, one of their descendants, the American Isabel Cabot, travels to Cairo with documents belonging to her great grandmother, having met and fallen for her cousin, international conductor Omar Ghamrawn. Together with Omar's sister, Isabel pieces together Anna's story, against a background of renewed nationalist unrest - the terrorist attack on Luxor tourists takes place while they are working.
The first reason that The Map of Love is not a novel which commands the attention is that it has these two rather hackneyed love stories, which could both come from trashy romantic fiction, at its centre. The concern with politics makes the novel a bit deeper than these romances, but this is not enough. It is the modern story which really drags things down. Anna's romance is much more interesting than Isabel's, and is set against an atmospheric background of real tension because of the British rule in Egypt (while Isabel is not so centrally connected to the nationalist violence going on in 1997). Each time the focus changes to Omar and Isabel, the reader just waits impatiently for a return to the earlier story. Even the discovery that Omar had an affair with Isabel's mother and might conceivably be her father - he is much older - is treated in such a way that it fails to kindle interest in their affair.
The relationship between British and Egyptian, as seen from the point of view of someone who moved from one culture to the other, could form the basis of an interesting novel, but this isn't it.
Saturday, 30 June 2001
Michael Pearce: The Mamur Zapt and the Camel of Destruction (1993)
Edition: Collins, 1993 (Buy from Amazon)
Review number: 853
The camel of destruction is apparently a figure from Arab legend, which has an aptly descriptive name. In this novel, more serious in tone than most of the Mamur Zapt stories, a plan to build new roads right through ancient parts of the city of Cairo is likened to the camel.
The case which Owen, as Mamur Zapt in charge of order in the city of Cairo in the early part of the twentieth century, investigates is the suicide of a civil servant, trying to find out what put him under so much pressure that he killed himself and who paid for the improvements recently carried out on his family house. It seems to be connected with the murky and complicated world of Egyptian finance, including schemes to attract foreign investment (and make vast amounts of money on the side) like the road.
It is the complex political machinations which take up the space generally occupied by humour in this series, but that doesn't stop The Camel of Destruction being an entertaining detective story with an atmospheric historical background.
Review number: 853
The camel of destruction is apparently a figure from Arab legend, which has an aptly descriptive name. In this novel, more serious in tone than most of the Mamur Zapt stories, a plan to build new roads right through ancient parts of the city of Cairo is likened to the camel.
The case which Owen, as Mamur Zapt in charge of order in the city of Cairo in the early part of the twentieth century, investigates is the suicide of a civil servant, trying to find out what put him under so much pressure that he killed himself and who paid for the improvements recently carried out on his family house. It seems to be connected with the murky and complicated world of Egyptian finance, including schemes to attract foreign investment (and make vast amounts of money on the side) like the road.
It is the complex political machinations which take up the space generally occupied by humour in this series, but that doesn't stop The Camel of Destruction being an entertaining detective story with an atmospheric historical background.
Tuesday, 16 January 2001
Michael Pearce: The Mamur Zapt and the Spoils of Egypt (1992)
Edition: HarperCollins, 1992 (Buy from Amazon)
Review number: 716
One of the scandals of the archaeological world is the way in which the heritage of the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Greece and Egypt, was ransacked in the nineteenth century to create the collections of museums and individuals in the West. Very little attempt was made to stop the removal of artefacts, because it was not in the financial interest of powerful men to do so. Tourism was not sufficiently important, in the days before mass air travel, to compensate for the riches brought by this trade.
When an American woman from a society opposed to the export of antiquities who is well connected starts making trouble the Mamur Zapt becomes involved. After an attack on her and several supposed accidents on one archaeological dig in the south, it becomes clear that something serious is going on.
The issue of the missing artefacts is one which many Egyptians today feel strongly about, and perhaps so does Michael Pearce. It has, at any rate, led him to write a rather more serious Mamur Zapt novel than most of the series. The Mamur Zapt and the Spoils of Egypt is still fun, but it is not as funny.
Review number: 716
One of the scandals of the archaeological world is the way in which the heritage of the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Greece and Egypt, was ransacked in the nineteenth century to create the collections of museums and individuals in the West. Very little attempt was made to stop the removal of artefacts, because it was not in the financial interest of powerful men to do so. Tourism was not sufficiently important, in the days before mass air travel, to compensate for the riches brought by this trade.
When an American woman from a society opposed to the export of antiquities who is well connected starts making trouble the Mamur Zapt becomes involved. After an attack on her and several supposed accidents on one archaeological dig in the south, it becomes clear that something serious is going on.
The issue of the missing artefacts is one which many Egyptians today feel strongly about, and perhaps so does Michael Pearce. It has, at any rate, led him to write a rather more serious Mamur Zapt novel than most of the series. The Mamur Zapt and the Spoils of Egypt is still fun, but it is not as funny.
Friday, 13 October 2000
Michael Pearce: The Mamur Zapt and the Donkey-Vous (1990)
Edition: Collins, 1990
Review number: 654
The third Mamur Zapt novel (I think) is very like the other one I have read (The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind). The whole series is going to consist of gentle, amusing crime stories set in Cairo about a century ago. They're very enjoyable, so similarity won't stop me continuing to read them.
The plot of this novel is about an investigation into kidnappings of tourists from the terrace of Shepheards, the most exclusive hotel in Cairo. The major mystery is how presumably unwilling victims could disappear without anyone seeing it happen, in a place not only thronged by hotel guests but full of anxious vendors. The "donkey-vous" of the absurd title is like a taxi rank, with donkeys for hire, outside the hotel.
Entertaining, easy on the mind; an excellent book to relax with.
Review number: 654
The third Mamur Zapt novel (I think) is very like the other one I have read (The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind). The whole series is going to consist of gentle, amusing crime stories set in Cairo about a century ago. They're very enjoyable, so similarity won't stop me continuing to read them.
The plot of this novel is about an investigation into kidnappings of tourists from the terrace of Shepheards, the most exclusive hotel in Cairo. The major mystery is how presumably unwilling victims could disappear without anyone seeing it happen, in a place not only thronged by hotel guests but full of anxious vendors. The "donkey-vous" of the absurd title is like a taxi rank, with donkeys for hire, outside the hotel.
Entertaining, easy on the mind; an excellent book to relax with.
Tuesday, 3 October 2000
Michael Pearce: The Mamur Zapt and Men Behind (1991)
Edition: William Collins, 1991
Review number: 640
Having given up waiting for the first of the Mamur Zapt novels to become available from my local library, I borrowed the third (though it's hard to tell from the unhelpful way Collins have chosen to list them at the front of the novels). I had some idea what to expect, and I was not disappointed. Perhaps a trifle less outrageous than the Dimitri novels I had previously read, The Mamur Zapt and Men Behind is still enjoyable and funny.
Set in Egypt in the early years of this century, the novels capitalise on the tension between the stabilising power of the British who ruled in all but name and the desire of the nationalists to free the country from foreign influence. The Mamur Zapt was the title of the official who ran the secret police in Cairo, and at this time was British though employed by the Egyptian government. In this particular novel, the tension is heightened during a period when the Khedive (ruler of Egypt) refuses to name a new first minister, paralysing the government. Both British and Egyptian officials are being followed and attacked as the crisis continues, and a grave situation becomes very serious when a bomb wrecks a cafe which is a haunt of student political societies.
As a detective puzzle, The Men Behind is easy to solve; Pearce is more interested in being entertaining and amusing than in providing serious intellectual relaxation.
Review number: 640
Having given up waiting for the first of the Mamur Zapt novels to become available from my local library, I borrowed the third (though it's hard to tell from the unhelpful way Collins have chosen to list them at the front of the novels). I had some idea what to expect, and I was not disappointed. Perhaps a trifle less outrageous than the Dimitri novels I had previously read, The Mamur Zapt and Men Behind is still enjoyable and funny.
Set in Egypt in the early years of this century, the novels capitalise on the tension between the stabilising power of the British who ruled in all but name and the desire of the nationalists to free the country from foreign influence. The Mamur Zapt was the title of the official who ran the secret police in Cairo, and at this time was British though employed by the Egyptian government. In this particular novel, the tension is heightened during a period when the Khedive (ruler of Egypt) refuses to name a new first minister, paralysing the government. Both British and Egyptian officials are being followed and attacked as the crisis continues, and a grave situation becomes very serious when a bomb wrecks a cafe which is a haunt of student political societies.
As a detective puzzle, The Men Behind is easy to solve; Pearce is more interested in being entertaining and amusing than in providing serious intellectual relaxation.
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