S02E08: Grab your pith helmet, darling.

It's time to meet Amelia Peabody.

“The best thing about being married to an archaeologist is that the older you get, the more interested he is in you.”

This famous quote is often incorrectly attributed to Agatha Christie, much to her chagrin. But, it is true that she was married to an archaeologist, Sir Max Mallowan.

When she first visited Egypt as a teenager, Agatha confesses that she didn’t care much about its archaeological attractions. Like many 17 year-olds, she only cared about dancing and having fun. But twenty years later, her interest in archaeology was piqued and it was on a fateful 1930 trip to an excavation site in Ur, Iraq that she met Max.

Later, she made many more trips with him to the Middle East and not only kept up her astonishing average of one-novel-a-year but also actively worked on the digs. She was the official photographer of the expeditions and also spent hours cleaning and assembling the broken shards of pottery that the team excavated. Here is an excellent reading list of all her Middle East and archaeology-inspired novels.

Max, Agatha and Leonard Woolley at Ur in 1931 | Source

Why all this talk of archaeology? Because in today’s episode¹, we are digging into the Amelia Peabody historical mystery series (1975-2010) written by Elizabeth Peters, the pen-name of American writer Barbara Mertz, who had a PhD in Egyptology herself.

Now, I haven’t read any of the Peabody mysteries, which is why I’ve handed over the pen to Ishavasyam Dash, whose creativity rouses in me, both envy and inspiration. Please do yourself a favour and look at her wonderfully whimsical art page: Ishyavaso.

Over to Isha. 🌞🐪🪏🌄🇪🇬

Hello, my fellow sleuths!

About two years ago, I hit a reading wall. I’d exhausted my usual roster of regency rakes and modern-day detectives and was desperately searching for a mystery series that felt both fresh and comfortingly familiar. I craved wit, a compelling plot, and a setting that wasn’t a police procedural.

That’s when I stumbled upon a recommendation for a book called Crocodile on the Sandbank. Intrigued by the title and the promise of Victorian Egyptology, I took a chance. I devoured that first book, and then the next two, back to back. I was, to put it mildly, utterly hooked.

If you find yourself in a similar reading rut, fear not. I have the perfect prescription for you: a ticket to the Nile via the glorious, hilarious, and utterly delightful Amelia Peabody mysteries.

Allow me to make the introductions. Picture, if you will, a formidable Victorian lady of independent means and even more independent opinions. She wears a stout travelling dress, sensible boots, and a pith helmet she would defend with her life. She is Amelia Peabody.

Our story begins when Amelia, having inherited both a fortune and a refreshing lack of interest in conventional society, decides to spend her money on travel and archaeology. On her journeys, she acquires two things:

1. A tall, dark, brooding, and brilliant archaeologist named Radcliffe Emerson (who despises the term “Egyptologist,” thank you very much).

2. A habit of stumbling over dead bodies in a most inconvenient fashion.

What follows is a series that spans decades, from the 1880s to the eve of WWI, and grows to include one of the most entertaining fictional families put to paper. Elizabeth Peters (a pen name for the brilliant Egyptologist Barbara Mertz) created a world that is part gripping mystery, part heartwarming family saga, and part laugh-out-loud parody of Victorian romance.

Why I fell in love, and you will too:

Firstly, there’s Amelia’s voice. The entire series is narrated by Amelia herself, in a voice that is pompous and completely unaware of her own humor. She refers to her husband as “Emerson” (even in her private thoughts), describes villains as “malefactors,” and faces assassins with brisk efficiency. Her self-confidence is a force of nature. She is a feminists’ delight.

I found the dynamic between Amelia and Emerson pure magic. He is a hot-tempered, passionate genius who shouts “Peabody!” in moments of high drama, which is often. Their verbal sparring is a martial art, and their devotion to each other is as solid as the Great Pyramid. The family grows to include their son, Walter “Ramses” Emerson and his formidable wife, Nefret. Watching these characters evolve over the years is one of the great joys of the series.

Peters expertly blends classic “cozy” elements such as a closed circle of suspects at a dig site, stolen artefacts, and nefarious family secrets; with high-stakes adventure. We’re not just talking about a discreet poisoning at a garden party. The dangers are as vast as the Egyptian desert and include cursed tombs, international thieves, and yes, the occasional murder discovered in a freshly excavated burial chamber. Though I must mention, if you’re seeking a perfectly clued, Poirot-level logic puzzle, this is not the series for it². The pleasure is the sparkling character dynamics and the brilliant storytelling. Let’s just say the plots are delightfully... theatrical.

So, if you’re in the mood for a mystery series that feels like a warm, witty, and adventurous hug, give this series a shot. Pour a cup of strong tea (or something stronger), settle into your favourite armchair, and let Amelia take it from there.

P.S. A friendly word of advice from a seasoned excavator: Read them in order! The character development is half the fun.

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Recommendation of the Week

Gowri here again.

eko is a Malayalam movie that’s currently in theatres (yes, with English subtitles), which I highly recommend you watch. It’s a slow-burn period mystery that’s excellently scripted and beautifully shot.

The premise: Dog breeder Kuriachan, a man with a shady past and wanted in a murder case, has been missing for seven years. He was on the run not only from the police but also from erstwhile friends and business partners, all of whom are obsessed with finding him and extracting a revenge worthy of his crimes. Is he dead or alive? And if he is alive, where could he be hiding in the hills of Kaattukunnu on the Kerala-Karnataka border?

Rating: 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

1. I should probably call this an issue but I like the idea of naming my newsletters the way TV shows are named—with series and episode numbers. So, episode it is.

2. Oh no. :(