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Summary: "The Perils of Peabody"
Review: Adventurous Egyptologist Amelia Peabody is embroiled in another affair of intrigue and homicide in Elizabeth Peters' "The Ape Who Guards the Balance." Fans of the series will be pleased to know that Peabody and her eccentric family are involved in more adventures and excavations in Egypt, but new readers will quickly warm to Peters' engaging characters. Indeed, in this book Peters devotes almost as many pages to the romantic misadventures of Peabody's extended family as she does to the mystery itself. Readers won't mind, however; Peabody's son Ramses, stepson David and stepdaughter Nefret emerge as full bodied characters in their own right, and they are every bit as willful as their archeaologist parents. Fans of the series will also be pleased to know that "Ape" represents the return of master criminal Sethos, one of the few individuals in the series who can match wits with Peabody. The novel opens with an ingenious robbery where Sethos uses a suffrage demonstration (attended, coincidentally, by a Peabody unaware of the impending theft) as a screen for his operation. When the scene shifts to Egypt and Peabody's clan begins another season of digging, Sethos appears to follow. Soon horribly mutated bodies begin to turn up in the Nile, and it will take the talents of the whole family to crack the case. The "Ape" of the title refers to a figure on amulets worn by the criminal gang involved, and represents an Egyptian god that observed the weighing of an individuals heart after death, an act which determined if the soul was worthy for a place in the afterlife. Peters obviously has a great love for her characters, and her writing is infused with an infectious enthusiasm for the adventures of Peabody and Co. An accomplished student of Egyptology (with a PhD from the prestigious Univ. of Chicago) who weaves historical references into her narratives, Peters the author is just as comfortable describing the dusty streets of Cairo as she is detailing the events of a swanky European dinner party. Peters entertains as well as educates, wisely choosing to keep the Egyptology as the background scenary to her story. "Ape" is an enjoyable trip through turn-of-the-century Egypt taken with good company, and will meet the expectations of old fans while winning some new converts. If there is a weakness to the novel, it is that the mystery appears almost secondary to other plot lines, and the mechinations of the main villain appear so shadowy that the reader is left to wonder if there really is any threat to Peabody. Amateur sleuths may find themselves disappointed, as clues are few and far between. Nonetheless, "Ape" is another solid addition to the Peabody series, and should only add to the popularity of the Egyptologist super sleuth.
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Summary: Last &best of great series - unforgettable characters!
Review: This series of mysteries, starring an eccentric British archaeologist husband & wife team who are excavating in Egypt at the turn of the century, just gets better and better. They are witty, hilarious, ingeniously crafted mysteries, and fascinating in their depiction of archaeology at that time (Peters, the author, is actually an egyptologist and is correct in every historical and period detail). What makes them special is the relationships between the characters. Peters has assembled an all-star ensemble cast who play against eachother wonderfully. The family relationships in this group of intelligent, competitive, and passionate people are drawn with such skill that you laugh and ache with them. While the earlier books were narrated entirely in the first person by the undauntable Amelia Peabody, this latest book (and also the previous one "Seeing a Large Cat") includes parts told from the viewpoints of other family members, particularly her precocious son Ramses who we watched grow up in preceeding books. Peters captures the generation gap perfectly, deftly exposing the frailties of both groups - the tendency of parents to underestimate their children, and vice-versa. Having read the series from start to finish (about 12 books) I am completely hooked. I can't wait for the next book to see what happens next in the lives of this remarkable group of people Peters has created.
Rating:
Summary: Elizabeth Peters is as good as ever
Review: I always eagerly await the next Amelia Peabody adventure, and this was worth the wait. Peters had plateaued for awhile, but her latest Amelia tales have recovered the charm and excitement of the earlier ones. Ramses and Nefret are growing as characters of their own. Dare I hope that she will start a new series with Ramses alone? There seems to be the hint of that possibility, but maybe it's my imagination.... An abduction attempt at Amelia in England leads them to suspect the Master Criminal once again, and this year's Egyptian expedition is off to a lively start. Emerson is frustrated at not being allowed to start any new digs in the Valley of the Kings, but discovers another tomb anyway. Ramses, David and Nefret are more involved in this one, and both Ramses's and David's romantic interests add an interesting spice to the story. Wonderful as usual, and if you have met Amelia and her family before, I don't need to explain. If you haven't, it's time you got acquainted.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed Entry in a Usually Delightful Series
Review: A series as long-running as the Peabody books is bound to contain a few duds. The Lion in the Valley, The Deeds of the Disturber, and The Hippopotamus Pool all had their share of problems, but The Ape Who Guards the Balance manages to offend in a way none of these earlier works did. It has excellent sections, particularly in the interactions between Ramses, David, and Nefret, and the Emersons' presence at the botched excavation of KV55 was a nice touch, but both the central mystery and the key emotional events of this volume are wasted effort.The mystery is not a terribly interesting one; the opening chapter makes it clear that Sethos is back and that there will be even more people creeping about in various disguises than usual (this is possibly the weakness of this series in general). Sethos I can handle, but the villain of this book was tiresome the first two times she popped up and is even worse in this round. Peters undercuts any feminist agenda she might have by inadvertently making a key villainess far less compelling than one-shot villains like Riccetti and Pesanker. Bring back Lady Baskerville, if you must, but no more of this! As for the personal travails of the Emerson clan... the troubles foreshadowed in the previous book are hinted at more and more strongly here, and then the images of a fratricidal tangle over Nefret resolve abruptly in a way that might be realistic in life but is unsatisfying as fiction. Some people fall in love, some are revealed as latent racists who turn upon their loved ones in times of stress, some die, and some stay the same. None of this turmoil is terribly affecting-and this is in the tenth volume of a series I've devoted much time and mental energy to, a series whose characters are `people' I enjoy spending time with! I feel the series soared back on course with Falcon at the Portal, and reached higher still with He Shall Thunder in the Sky, but Ape just didn't cohere.
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Summary: Check out Ms. Rosenblat's performance
Review: I've been listening to the Amelia Peabody series while commuting for the past couple of months and have enjoyed the tapes so very much. I've been lucky enough to be listening to the Barbara Rosenblat version of the series. Samantha Eggar is fine as a reader, but Barbara Rosenblat makes each character distinct and easy to recognize. She has a warm, clear voice, seems completely at ease with this series and has no problem with any of the characterizations Elizabeth Peters throws her way. At the end of the Rosenblat version of "Ape Who Guards the Balance" is an interview with Peters and Rosenblatt which is well-worth listening to.
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing (no-spoiler review)
Review: Involving Amelia and her Egyptologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, their gifted son Ramses as well as David and Nefret, this novel begins in 1907 in England where Amelia attends a suffragettes' meeting. From that moment on, bizarre events put the Emerson Peabody family in danger. Suspecting that the Master Criminal is behind their problems, the family travels to Egypt in order to continue excavating in the Valley of Kings. As always, their archaeological expedition is interrupted by several incidents. Fascinating entertainment where adventure and romance meet.
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