A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters
A mystery book review
A River in the Sky is #19 in the Amelia Peabody mystery series about a husband-wife archaeology team who unearth freshly murdered bodies as often as mummified remains. It is 1910. Amelia (Mrs. Emerson for some time now) responds to her husband's remark that the Old Testament "is a tissue of lies from start to finish" with "a flank attack rather than a direct assault." Why, she wonders, is he reading the Bible. "Are you feeling quite well?"
There is a reason, of course. Soon, courtesy of the British War Office, which fears an inept amateur explorer named Morley may in fact be a German spy, they are off to dig in Jerusalem rather than their usual Egyptian haunts. Emerson's interest in preventing a clumsy, destructive dig lines up neatly with the government's interest in finding out what Morley is up to. Amelia is anxious, as well, to check up on their son Ramses, working on a dig north of Jerusalem at Samaria. He has, in fact, run into trouble and will shortly be in a worse predicament. Accompanying the Emerson party is Morley's discarded source of information, a hazy religious fanatic whose appetite seems healthier than his mental processes.
Fans of the series who appreciate its tart humor will not be disappointed by A River in the Sky. Neither Emerson nor Amelia suffer fools gladly, though they suffer them in somewhat different fashion. Amelia, who has learned not to mention her intuitive leaps, is practiced in forestalling Emerson's tactless outbursts or, when that cannot be achieved, soothing ruffled feelings. Despite the habitual candor and directness with which she astonishes the gentlemen at the War Office, she shares some opinions with the reader alone. "The process seemed haphazard and potentially dangerous. But after all, I reminded myself, the War Office was run by men." Before the mystery concludes, occasion will arise to use her famous parasol, "made to my specifications with a heavy steel shaft and somewhat pointed tip." (2010; 304 pages)