Mysteries Set in Egypt

Accounts of exotic foreign locales have always stirred

the blood of "armchair adventurers". And the mysterious

sandy reaches and ancient culture of Egypt provide rich fuel for works to delight armchair detectives

and lovers of historical mysteries.

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New Mexico author Lauren Haney starts us off way back in 1464 BCE with the Lieutenant Bak series.  Bak is a Commander of Police in the town of Buhen during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, and like any good policeman in any time has to deal not only with mayhem and murder but also the bureacracy of his superiors.

The Lieutenant Bak series:

1. The Right Hand of Amon (1997)

2. A Face Turned Backward (1999)

3. A Vile Justice (1999)

4. A Curse of Silence (2000)

5. A Place of Darkness (2001)

6. A Cruel Deceit (2002)

7. Flesh of the God (2003)

8. A Path of Shadows (2003)



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P.C. Doherty's popular Amerotke series visits a slightly earlier period, during the reign of Tuthmosis II (1493-1479 BCE). Or rather the stories commence just at the end of that reign as the pharaoh's widow, the new Queen of Egypt, must try to stabilize her control of the region with the help of her advisor and chief judge Lord Amerotke. The series is rich in historical detail.

The Amerotke series:

1. The Mask of Ra (1998)

2. The Horus Killings (1999)

3. The Anubis Slayings (2000)

4. The Slayers of Seth (2001)

5. The Assassins of Isis (2004)

6. The Poisoner of Ptah (2007)

7. The Spies of Sobeck (2008)

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Lynda S. Robinson takes the time of King Tutankhamun (1341-1323 BCE) as the setting for her Lord Meren series. Meren is Tut's chief investigator and travels the kingdom in pursuit of justice.

The Lord Meren series:

1. Murder in the Place of Anubis (1994)

2. Murder At the God's Gate (1995)

3. Murder At the Feast of Rejoicing (1996)

4. Eater of Souls (1997)

5. Drinker of Blood (1998)

6. Slayer of Gods (2001)

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Nick Drake also uses the fabled time of Tut as the backdrop for his mystery trilogy involving Rai Rahotep, a young chief investigator in Thebes.

The Rai Rahotep trilogy:

1. Nefertiti (2006)
2. Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows (2008)
3. Egypt: The Book of Chaos (2011)

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Brad Geagley sets two mysteries in ancient Babylon and Egypt, around 1150 BCE, about Semerket, Egypt's Clerk of Investigations:

The Semerket series:

Year of the Hyenas (2005)

Day of the False King (2005)

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Leap to the Edwardian period in Cairo and the Mamur Zapt series by Michael Pearce. Pearce, who grew up in the region, brings us Captain Owen of the Cairo CID, assigned to navigate the political intrigues that are as constant and murky as the flow of the Nile.

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And digging up the evidence from all of these periods is Elizabeth Peters' justifiably famous archaeologist Amelia Peabody. ("Elizabeth Peters" is the pen name of Egyptologist Barbara Mertz, who also writes under the name Barbara Michaels.)

The Amelia Peabody series:

1. Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975)

2. The Curse of the Pharaohs (1981)

3. The Mummy Case (1985)

4. Lion in the Valley (1986)

5. The Deeds of the Disturber (1988)

6. The Last Camel Died at Noon (1991)

7. The Snake, The Crocodile and the Dog (1992)

8. The Hippopotamus Pool (1996)

9. Seeing a Large Cat (1997)

10. The Ape Who Guards The Balance (1998)

11. The Falcon at the Portal (1999)

12. Thunder in the Sky (2000)

13. Lord of the Silent (2001)

14. The Golden One (2002)

15. Children of the Storm (2003)

16. Guardian of the Horizon (2003)

17. The Serpent on the Crown (2005)

18. Tomb of the Golden Bird (2006)

19. A River in the Sky (2010)

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Explore the world of Egypt mysteries!

Other mysteries set in Egypt:

Catherine Aird - Little Knell
Conrad Allen - Murder on the Marmora
Agatha Christie - Death Comes as the End, Death on the Nile
K.K. Beck - Murder in a Mummy Case
Matt Bondurant - The Third Translation
Marjorie Eccles - The Shape of Sand
Joan Hess - Mummy Dearest, a Claire Malloy mystery
Jane Jakeman - The Egyptian Coffin
Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen - Storm Cycle
John Maddox Roberts - The Temple of the Muses
Carol Thurston - The Eye of Horus
Robyn Young - Brethren