The Painted Queen

by Elizabeth Peters Book 14 in the Amelia Peabody series.

First published 2017

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In 1912, Amelia’s arrival in Cairo is interrupted when a mortally wounded man enters her hotel room and dies after announcing a murder. An attempted assassination and the disappearance of a German archaeologist lead the Emersons toward forged antiquities and a priceless painted bust of Queen Nefertiti connected with excavations at Amarna.

Amelia suspects that Sethos is observing the family and may be responsible for saving her life, but his purpose remains uncertain. The search for the authentic bust becomes a contest between archaeologists, criminals and the Master Criminal himself, bringing the series back to the Amarna setting of its first novel. The unfinished manuscript was completed after Elizabeth Peters’s death by Joan Hess.