Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing (Lord Meren Series #3)
"DELICIOUS . . . Robinson makes history live and breathe again."\ *The New York Times Book Review\ The small group gathered at Lord Meren's country house to celebrate his homecoming is soon to become yet smaller. Beautiful Anhai, Meren's cousin-in-law, falls victim to murder--an act of violence as inscrutable as the sphinx. True, she had myriad lovers and a scorpion tongue, but why was her body arranged so meticulously, as if for sleep? The most dreadful possibility is that the crime has to...
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"DELICIOUS . . . Robinson makes history live and breathe again." *The New York Times Book ReviewThe small group gathered at Lord Meren's country house to celebrate his homecoming is soon to become yet smaller. Beautiful Anhai, Meren's cousin-in-law, falls victim to murder—an act of violence as inscrutable as the sphinx. True, she had myriad lovers and a scorpion tongue, but why was her body arranged so meticulously, as if for sleep? The most dreadful possibility is that the crime has to do with Lord Meren's awesome undercover mission for the pharaoh, for which his feast of rejoicing is in part a cover. This mission cannot, must not, fail. Ruthlessly stripping bare the deepest secrets of the nest of cobras who are his nearest relatives, Meren finds the thread that leads to the truth and the unmasking of a shocking crime in the court of the living god. . . ."As Robinson deftly juggles ancient Egyptian political intrigue and a riveting mystery, she proves again her mastery of the historical whodunit." *Publishers Weekly (starred review)Publishers WeeklyPoor Lord Meren. After the rigors of his last appearance (Murder at the God's Gate), he is expecting a quiet rest in his provincial home, far from the intrigues of the Egyptian court where he is confidant and advisor to the boy-king Tutankhamen. Left at the court is his adopted son, Kysen, charged with overseeing plans for secretly transporting the bodies of the Pharaoh's predecessors from their desecrated tombs to the new ones being secretly constructed. But Meren's sister has invited the relatives to celebrate his homecoming, endangering the covert operation. Complicating matters further is the rancor among Meren's relatives, each of whom dislikes another for past actions. Most viperish is his cousin Sennefer's wife, Anhai, who wants a divorce and seems to make even the most agreeable people angry. When her body is found after the feast, Meren and Kysen must investigate her murder while keeping a close eye on the tomb builders. Their job is made more treacherous by the arrival of the Pharaoh, who wants to take part in the investigation, and by the persistent snooping of Meren's daughter, Bener, who also wants to help. As Robinson deftly juggles ancient Egyptian political intrigue and a riveting mystery, she proves again her mastery of the historical whodunit. (Feb.)
\ Publishers Weekly\ - Publisher's Weekly\ Poor Lord Meren. After the rigors of his last appearance (Murder at the God's Gate), he is expecting a quiet rest in his provincial home, far from the intrigues of the Egyptian court where he is confidant and advisor to the boy-king Tutankhamen. Left at the court is his adopted son, Kysen, charged with overseeing plans for secretly transporting the bodies of the Pharaoh's predecessors from their desecrated tombs to the new ones being secretly constructed. But Meren's sister has invited the relatives to celebrate his homecoming, endangering the covert operation. Complicating matters further is the rancor among Meren's relatives, each of whom dislikes another for past actions. Most viperish is his cousin Sennefer's wife, Anhai, who wants a divorce and seems to make even the most agreeable people angry. When her body is found after the feast, Meren and Kysen must investigate her murder while keeping a close eye on the tomb builders. Their job is made more treacherous by the arrival of the Pharaoh, who wants to take part in the investigation, and by the persistent snooping of Meren's daughter, Bener, who also wants to help. As Robinson deftly juggles ancient Egyptian political intrigue and a riveting mystery, she proves again her mastery of the historical whodunit. (Feb.)\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalLord Meren deals with court intrigue and other disturbances for Tutankhamen. This time, Meren solves a country house murder, while his adopted son Kysen protects the pharaoh.\ \ \ School Library JournalYA-This well-woven story of murder and intrigue immediately draws readers into the sun-seared landscape of the Egyptian Nile in the days of Tutankhamun. One of the young Pharoah's close confidants, Lord Meren, visits his family estate for a brief rest but finds, instead, that his sister has invited a tedious group of friends and relatives for a family celebration. One of these unwelcome guests has the bad taste to be murdered. The plot gathers speed through crisp dialogue and pungent description, giving readers a strong sense of Egyptian life almost without their being aware of it. Robinson does a skillful job of helping to sort out the plethora of strange names and relationships through the timely but simple use of well-placed appositives. This mystery, the third in a highly rated series, can be enjoyed on its own. Lord Meren is sensitively developed, and yet enough of his personality is left unexplored so that, by the end, YAs will be eager to accompany him on further assignments as the eyes and ears of the Pharoah.-Cynthia Rieben, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsThink you've got problems when you go home for the holidays? Your relatives—like those of Lord Meren, the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh—may squabble with each other and complain that you've got it made and wheedle you to work your connections for them and fix you up with would-be romantic partners, but you probably don't have to worry about finding your cousin's wife dead in your granary or concealing the presence of the embalmed bodies of King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti and their burial treasures, resting uneasily in a haunted temple right around the corner while King Tutankhamen prepares a new tomb safe where they'll be secure from vandals—and from the spies and court plotters hovering like vultures around the expedition's can-do man, Meren's adopted son Kysen, whom his relatives all despise, too. Nor do you have to worry whether to suspect your dissolute brother, your aspiring mate, or the followers of the scheming Prince Hunefer of poisoning your guests—or how to go about questioning your relatives and keeping them confined to their quarters when they don't come up with the right answers about the insidious tekau plant.\ "Interfering relatives are far more dangerous than ordinary murderers and spies," concludes Lord Meren, whose third case (Murder at the God's Gate, 1995, etc.) is a typically trenchant backdating of the English country-house mystery, with all the mod. cons. of politics and psychology.\ \ \
