Příběhy, které se odehrávaly ve starém Egyptě

A collection of crime stories set in Egypt arranged chronically across the thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian civilisation to the last few archaeology/Egyptology-based stories set in the 19th and early 20th centuries. ( )

Although I haven't quite fully consumed the entire book, all that I have read, I have fully enjoyed. It has exposed me to several "new" authors that I have not read before. There is so much material that I find myself about 75% into the book and I'm almost completely spent on the topic. I find that I bring my limited attention span wherever I go - it is not a reflection of this work. In fact, it is very well edited, fun and uncomplicated. I recommend it to anyone dabbling with the genre. ( )

From Cleopatra and Herodotus to Howard Carter and the Curse of the Pharaohs, the investigators in "The Mammoth Book of Egyptian Whodunnits" uncover the murder mysteries of Ancient Egypt.

This anthology covers two periods in history - the time of Ancient Egypt which stretches from the First Dynasty in 4000 B.C. to the time of the Roman Empire, and the time of the Discoveries, which covers the Napoleonic and Victorian periods of excavation.

The 19 short stories included are the following:

Introduction by Elizabeth Peters >> An author's journey to her current career and a brief explanation of the reason why Ancient Egypt issuch an inspiration to writers of sensational fiction.

"Set in Stone" by Deirdre Counihan >> Taking real life figures from the time of Imhotep, the vizier of the Third Dynasty king, Counihan takes us back to the current royal investigation of a death occuring during the vizier's youth.

"Serpent at the Feast" by Claire Griffen >> Metjen-hotep, the Chief Architect of the second pyramid which now stands in Giza, was murdered. Baki, the Pharoah's Chief Physician, seeks the murderer. Is it the Chief Architect's adopted son, or the man who serves as his scribe, or his newest wife?

"The Sorrow of Senusert the Mighty" by Keith Taylor >> Egypt's Middle Kingdom's most powerful ruler, Senusert III's life has attempted at for several times. Wine sought to poison him has failed, but will the murderer succeed with a trained man-eater of a lion?

"The Execration" by Noreen Doyle >> A "lector" priest's ceremony of execration gone horribly wrong, at the expense of an innocent life.

"No-name" by R.H. Stewart >> When Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple was excavated, the coffin of an unidentified male was revealed. Who was he and what was his importance to Egypt's ruling family?

"Or You Can Drink the Wine...?" by Paul C. Doherty >> A former tutor of the Queen of Egypt has ingested poison, making it appear obvious that she has committed suicide. However, Amerotke, the Chief Judge in the Hall of Two Truths in Thebes of a Hundred Gates, has his own investigation to perform. I always thought that there must be a better title suited for this short story, other than what appeared as published.

"Murder in the Land of Wawat" by Lauren Haney >> A native of Nubia (then called Wawat) was found murdered. Lieutenant Bak, officer in charge of the Medjay police seeks the truth.

"The Locked Tomb Mystery" by Elizabeth Peters >> The undoing of a man in the hands of the two most powerful females in his life.

"Heretic's Dagger" by Lynda S. Robinson >> Court intrigue and power struggles in the time of the reign of one of the most easily recognizable pharoahs of Egypt, Tutankhamun.

"Scorpion's Kiss" by Anton Gill >> An investigator trusted by Pharoah above all others (much to the chagrin of his former protege) is asked to know the truth behind the murder of the Chief Interogator.

"Claws of the Wind" by Suzanne Frank >> The First Prophet of Anubis seeks to fing out the truth in a murder case presented before her. The priestess would have to choose between her duty and that what is right.

"The Weighing of the Heart" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre >> The Egyptians believed that during a person's death, Anubis would weigh that person's heart against Ma'at, the goddess-feather of Truth. But is such a thing possible when one's ancestor has committed murder to regain riches?

"Chosen of the Nile" by Mary Reed & Eric Mayer >> Herodotus, considered as the father of history, travels to Egypt to observe the customs owing to the worship of the crocodile god of the Nile.

"The Justice of Isis" by Gillian Bradshaw >> A Gabinian soldier has been accused of defiling the altar of Isis but he claims innocence of the crime.

"The Wings of Isis" by Marilyn Todd >> No Egyptian anthology would be complete without including Pharoah Cleopatra VII. This one follows the ceremony of her ascent as the goddess Isis.

"Bringing the Foot" by Kate Ellis >> A reminiscing of the adventures of one of the early Egyptologists during the Naploeanic era.

"Unrolling the Dead" by Ian Morson >> A murder case which parallels the translation of a papyrus against the actual events at the time of Pharoah Meryakare. I personally hated the dialogue of the "future" time.

"Heart Scarab" by Gillian Linscott >> An examination of the relationship between a renowned Egyptologist and his son who loathes anything to do with Egypt.

"Made in Egypt" by Michael Pearce >> A terrible ending of a story to an otherwise great anthology. This one tries to explore the robbery of the Mask of Thutmose.

There are not centuries but millenia of possible settings and the editor has done a good job of selecting a spread of times and places as well as authors.

Book Details:

Title The Mammoth Book of Egyptian Whodunnits
Author Edited by Mike Ashley
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

An excellent series of stories by some of the big and little names in the genre, a lot of the stories sent me looking for more by those authors.
Deirdre Counihan's Set in Stone in set in the time of Imhotep, many of the characters are actually real, it's the story of a dead child.
Claire Griffen's Serpent at the Feast is set in the reign of Khafre, another murder.
Keith Taylor's The Sorry of Senusert the Mighty centres around a Kushite cook and poison taster who is the prime suspect when her master is poisoned, in order to stay alive she has to find the murderer.
Noreen Doyle's The Execration is set during the reign of Amenemhat IV. The ritual priest kills a man, under the law of Egypt, but then he doubts the identity of the person he has killed and investigates.
R H Stewart's No-Name is set in the time of Turhmosis III, a story in the tradition of the man in the Iron Mask, but also about madness and mental disability in the royal family.
PC Doherty's is set in almost the same time. Featuring his character Amerotke, the Chief Judge of Egypt, Lady Tiyea dies but who and why?
Lauren Haney's Murder in the Land of Wawat features her character Lieutenant Bak, and is set in the reign of Hatshepsut, a man is found dead in a tomb, he has many enemies, which one killed him?
The Locked Tomb Mystery by Ellis Peters, set in the time of Amenhotep IV, a tomb is desecrated and robed but it's still sealed, so who did it?
Heretic's Dagger by Lynda S Robinson is set in the time of Tutankhamun. Meren finds a dead body, killed with a dagger with Akhenaten's seal. Uncovering the murderer gets Meren involved in murky palace politics.
Anton Gill's Scorpion's Kiss is in the time of Horemheb. Gill's Huy isw investigating a poisoning.
Claws of the Wind by Suzanne Frank is an interesting story, a female detective in the time of Rameses the Eternal. Although the murder looks obvious it isn't.
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre's The Weighing of the Heart is set in the time of Rameses XI. An interesting twist to this finding of a corpse.
Mary Reed & Eric Mayer's Chosen of the Nile is in the Hellenic period and features Herodotus, interesting in the "duck out of water" aspect.
The Justice of Isis by Gillian Bradshaw has an interesting slant to it and has a good reflection of how the people of the time regarded desecration.
Marilyn Todd's The Wings of Isis features Cleopatra VII and murder during a ceremony that she has to solve to keep what little power she has.
Bringing the Foot by Kate Ellis brings us into modern-ish period, Napoleonic Era to be exact the narrator is the wife of an egyptologist and early archaeologist and when murder is done they have to solve this mystery.
Unrolling the Dead by Ian Morson, in the early 19th Century, and a pair of interesting characters who find out the truth of a mummy's death during an unwrapping party.
Heart Scarab by Gillian Linscott is an interesting early 20th Century moment involving superstition and curses, however the end leaves a nice series of questions in the mind and a lust for more in this setting.
Made in Egypt by Michael Pearce in the period leading up to world war I is an interesting look at the antiquities market. ( )