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Barbara Mertz

Born: 1928
Pen Name: Elizabeth Peters, Barbara Michaels

Connection to Illinois: Mertz grew up in small-town Illinois during the Depression. Her family moved to a Chicago suburb when she was in 4th grade. She attended Oak Park-River Forest High School and went to the University of Chicago.

Biography: Mertz wrote more than 35 mysteries under thename Elizabeth Peters, including her most popular series about a daring Victorian archaeologist namesd Amelia Peabody. She also wrote 29 suspense novels under the pen name Barbara Michaels, and under her own name, she wrote nonfiction books about ancient Egypt. In 1950, Mertz received her MA from the University of Chicago. She so loved archaeology and was drawn to Egyptology that she received her Ph.D in 1952 from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Mertz married in 1950. After moving to Germany with her husband, she tried her hand at writing. She wrote two nonfiction books about Egypt under her name before having her first fiction book published, ''The Master of Blacktower'', under the Michael's name.Mertz passed on August 8, 2013 at her home in Frederick, Maryland.


Awards:
  • ''Grandmaster Lifetime Achievement Award'' from the Mystery Writers of America, 1998

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction; Non-Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Website: http://mpmbooks.com/
Barbara Mertz on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=barbara++mertz


Selected Titles

A river in the sky :
ISBN: 0061246263 OCLC: 419855581

William Morrow, New York : 2010.

Amelia and Emerson follow an expedition searching for the vanished treasures of the Temple in Jerusalem. Besides suspecting the leader of the expedition of inept excavation practices, they believe him to be secretly working for German intelligence.

Amelia Peabody mysteries.
ISBN: 0061999210 OCLC: 1035372527

The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody, her dashing Egyptologist husband, Emerson, and their wild and precocious eight-year-old son, Ramses. The much-coveted burial chamber of the Black Pyramid in Dahshoor is theirs for the digging. But there is a great evil in the wind that roils the hot sands sweeping through the bustling streets and marketplaces of Cairo. The brazen moonlight abduction of Ramses?́?and an expedition subsequently cursed by misfortune and death?́?have alerted Amelia to the likely presence of her arch nemesis the Master Criminal, notorious looter of the living and the dead. But it is far more than ill-gotten riches that motivates the evil genius this time around. For now the most valuable and elusive prize of all is nearly in his grasp: the meddling lady archaeologist who has sworn to deliver him to justice ... Amelia Peabody!

Crocodile on the sandbank /
ISBN: 0445406518 OCLC: 1130123

Dodd, Mead, New York : [1975]

32-year-old Victorian gentlewoman, Amelia Peabody receives a rather large inheritance and decides to use it for travel. On her way through Rome to Egypt, she meets a young woman abandoned by her lover and left with no means of support. Amelia promptly takes Evelyn under her wing, insisting that the young lady accompany her to Egypt, where Amelia plans to indulge her passion for Egyptology. When Evelyn becomes the target of an aborted kidnapping and the focus of a series of suspicious accidents, Amelia becomes convinced of a plot to harm her young friend. Like any self-respecting sleuth, Amelia sets out to discover who is behind it all.

  Czarna tȩcza
ISBN: 8373372490 OCLC: 224029512

Prószyński i S-ka, Warszawa : 2002.

By the light of a gilded moon, a mysterious black rainbow framed the huddled towers of Grayhaven Manor, a vision of ominous beauty that seemed to warn Megan O'Neill of a darkness within. As the estate's new governess, her apprehensions were banished by the welcome of the Mandeville family. But Megan's growing obsession for her handsome employer blinds her to the terrifying truth of Grayhaven.

  Czekaj nieubłagengo losu
ISBN: 8372555001 OCLC: 45014922

Prószyński i S-ka, Warszawa : 2000.

He shall thunder in the sky :
ISBN: 006195165X OCLC: 43540556

W. Morrow, New York : ©2000.

Intrepid archaeologist/sleuth Amelia Peabody and her family, back in Egypt in 1914 for another season of archaeological excavation, become caught up in the political turmoil sweeping the country, and when an exquisite artifact from a Giza dig is found where it ought not be, Amelia realizes her villainous arch-nemesis Sethos is at work.

Houses of stone
ISBN: 0425143066 OCLC: 30763540

Berkley Books, New York : [1994], ©1993.

Professor Karen Holloway travels to Virginia to search for the grave of Ismene, the mysterious author of a battered 19th-century manuscript. But eerie, inexplicable coincidences make Karen wonder if Ismene is desperately trying to warn her from the grave.

  Il caso del sarcofago scomparso :
ISBN: 8842914126 OCLC: 799564358

Nord, [Milano] : 2005.

  Il flagello di Horus :
ISBN: 9788850226535 OCLC: 898579574

Editori associati, Milano : 2011.

  Il mistero della città perduta :
ISBN: 9788842914990 OCLC: 799624380

Nord, [Milano] : 2007.

Il papiro insanguinato :
ISBN: 9788842916031 OCLC: 800013782

Nord, [Milano] : 2009.

  Il segreto della tomba d'oro :
ISBN: 9788842915577 OCLC: 799974356

Nord, [Milano] : 2008.

  Indagine nel museo egizio :
ISBN: 9788850218387 OCLC: 800060560

Editori associati, Milano : 2009.

  La maledizione di Nefertiti :
ISBN: 9788842915003 OCLC: 799781695

Nord, [Milano] : 2007.

Lion in the valley
ISBN: 0812512421 OCLC: 82456318

Naked once more
ISBN: 0446360325 OCLC: 22502296

Warner Books, New York, NY : 1990, ©1989.

Kirby is chosen to write a sequel to a bestselling novel whose author disappeared seven years earlier. When she goes to the author's hometown she is plagued by accidents and becomes embroiled in murder, mystery and romance.

Night train to Memphis
ISBN: 0446602485 OCLC: 33954255

Warner Books, New York : 1995, ©1994.

Offered a luxury Nile cruise if she will solve a murder and stop a heist of Egyptian antiquities, assistant curator Vicky Bliss jumps at the chance and is horrified when her investigations also unveil her lover's infidelities--Publisher.

Other worlds
ISBN: 0061097497 OCLC: 39695483

HarperCollinsPublishers, New York : ©1999.

A conference of specialists on the occult is convened to analyze two 19th century ghost hauntings, one in Tennessee, the other in Connecticut. Attended by such experts as Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the conference attempts to arrive at an explanation. By the author of The Dancing Floor.

  Patriot's dream
ISBN: 0396073379 OCLC: 2318303

Dodd, Mead, New York : ©1976.

A girl living in restored Williamsburg has dreams that seem to connect her with a man who lived two hundred years earlier.

  Red land, black land :
ISBN: 9781607756255 OCLC: 295578546

Playaway Digital Audio : [Solon, Ohio] : [released 2009], ©2008.

An erudite and witty glimpse of the human side of ancient Egypt, this classic work is revised and updated for a new generation. Displaying the descriptive power, eye for detail, keen insight, and wit that have made her novels bestsellers, renowned Egyptologist Mertz transports us back thousands of years and immerses us in the sights, aromas, and sounds of day-to-day living in the legendary desert realm that was ancient Egypt. What did average Egyptians eat, drink, wear, gossip about, and aspire to? What were their amusements, their beliefs, their attitudes? Mertz ushers us into their homes, workplaces, temples, and palaces to show us the everyday worlds of the royal and commoner alike.

  Shattered silk.
ISBN: 0553175998 OCLC: 21158744

Bantam, 1989.

  Someone in the house
ISBN: 0708911153 OCLC: 59685575

Ulverscroft, Leicester : 1984, ©1981.

  Szary brzask
ISBN: 8371804644 OCLC: 45094388

Prószyński i S-ka, Warszawa : 1999.

  Taneczny krąg
ISBN: 837255725X OCLC: 48562753

Prószyński i S-ka, Warszawa : 2001.

On a tour of English gardens Heather Tradescant, an amateur horticulturist from the U.S., pays a visit to the 17th century Troytan House. Owner Frank Karim invites her to stay so she can help beautify his grounds. For Heather it is the start of a romantic adventure with a good dose of witchcraft.

Temples, tombs, and hieroglyphs :
ISBN: 1860199100 OCLC: 44918472

P. Brockhampton Press, London : 1999, ©1964.

The Copenhagen connection
ISBN: 0816134677 OCLC: 8827873

G.K. Hall, Boston, Mass. : 1982.

The curse of the pharaohs /
ISBN: 0445406488 OCLC: 17465887

Mysterious Press, New York : [1988], ©1981.

The witty, indefatigable Amelia Peabody--now married to the woman-hating archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson--eludes the villains and solves three murders in this adventure set among the archaeological digs in the Valley of the Kings.

The dark on the other side
ISBN: 0396062458 OCLC: 103645

Dodd, Mead New York, [1970]

The house whispered to her, and she thought she must be going mad. Was there no one to help her?

The Dead Sea cipher
ISBN: 0380731142 OCLC: 47350349

Avon Books, New York : 2001, ©1970.

Dinah van der Lyn, vacationing in Jerusalem, is pulled into a dangerous mystery when she hears angry voices through the wall of her hotel room, and a cry for help in English.

The golden one :
ISBN: 0380817152 OCLC: 51929262

Avon Books, New York : [2003], ©2002.

Revisiting Egypt in 1917 with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law, Egyptologist Amelia Peabody stumbles across a murdered body, a situation that is complicated by an assignment from British intelligence and her daughter-in-law's troubling secret.

The hippopotamus pool /
ISBN: 0446603988 OCLC: 32923807

Warner Books, New York, NY : ©1996.

The 19th Century archeologists, Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson, arrive in Egypt with children to explore the site of Queen Tetisheri's tomb in Thebes. All goes well until their son, Ramses, is kidnaped. By the author of The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog.

  The jackal's head
ISBN: 0380731177 OCLC: 50016923

Avon Books, New York, N.Y. : [2002], ©1968.

Althea Tomlinson came back to Egypt as just another tourist, showing the country to a spoiled seventeen year old. But what really drove her was a desire to discover the truth behind her father's disgrace and subsequent death.

The mummy case /
ISBN: 0061999202 OCLC: 713833708

Disgusted when he is denied access to the pyramids of Dahshoor, Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson, aided by his archaeologist wife Amelia Peabody, finds his curiosity piqued when an antiquities dealer is murdered and a mummy case disappears.

  The sea king's daughter
ISBN: 0396072089 OCLC: 1622281

Dodd, Mead, New York : [1975]

Her father, an archaeologist, had not seen her for 20 years. Suddenly he wanted her to work with him in Greece, where she was caught up in a sacrificial doom which seemed inescapable.

  The serpent on the crown /
ISBN: 006059179X OCLC: 57008254

William Morrow, New York : 2005.

The Emersons learn of a mysterious death that has been attributed to a curse, a situation that enables Amelia Peabody and her family to enter the banned Valley of the Kings in order to return a stolen statue.

The snake, the crocodile, and the dog /
ISBN: 0446364789 OCLC: 25788415

Warner Books, New York : ©1992.

Amelia Peabody and her husband's lives are threatened when they embark for the pyramids of ancient Egypt.

  The walker in shadows
ISBN: 0396077137 OCLC: 5101798

Dodd, Mead, New York : 1979.

Mark Robbins falls head over heels in love with his new neighbor Kathy Friedrichs, but her father tells him to stay away and even their house which had sat empty for years seems to warn him off.

Tomb of the golden bird /
ISBN: 0060591811 OCLC: 69992465

PerfectBound, Pymble, NSW ; 2006.

The Emerson clan is a hairsbreadth away from unearthing the legendary site they've been searching for. But a sinister plot and a dark family secret stand in the way of their ultimate ambition and threaten to change things forever.

Trojan gold :
ISBN: 089621818X OCLC: 15695648

Thorndike Press, Thorndike, Me. : ©1987.

  Tutaj zostanę
ISBN: 8370018483 OCLC: 751458020

Wydawnictwo ALFA, Warszawa : 1994.

Witch
ISBN: 0396068383 OCLC: 735646

Dodd, Mead New York, [1973]

A divorcee buys a haunted house in the back country of Virginia and is drawn into the superstitions, fears and hatreds of the neighbors.

 

 

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