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Title: Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing
ISBN: 0345482921
Author:
Lynda S. Robinson
Publicate Date: 1995-01-03
Publish: 1995-01-03
List Price: $19.00
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $11.31
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.75
Amazon Merchant Price: $19.00
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1: Lord Meren series, the best of the Egyptian mystery series
Robinson, holds a PhD in anthropology. Apparently, her husband bet her she could put it to use writing mysteries set in the past. They are about Lord Meren, the "Eyes and Ears of the Pharaoh" (an actual position, sort of a secret service type of job) in the time of King Tutankamun "Murder in the Place of Anubis" is the first in the series, but very hard to find. This series is, to me, the best of all the current ancient Egyptian mystery series, and superior to the current popular ancient Rome series as well. Write more and re-release the older ones, please!!
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2: A country house party in the *old* tradition
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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3: Simply delightful read!
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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4: Typical Family
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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5: Lord Meren is supposed to rest, but murder finds him again.
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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