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    A River in the Sky: A Novel
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    A River in the Sky: A Novel
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    A River in the Sky: A Novel
    Ebook359 pages6 hours

    A River in the Sky: A Novel

    By Elizabeth Peters

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “Between Amelia Peabody and Indiana Jones, it’s Amelia—in wit and daring—by a landslide.”
    —New York Times Book Review

    Intrepid archaeologist and superior sleuth Amelia Peabody returns in A River in the Sky. In this breathtaking new adventure, New York Times bestselling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters transports the indomitable Amelia and her family, the Emersons, from their usual milieu, early twentieth-century Egypt, to an exciting—and dangerous—new locale: Palestine! A tale full of atmosphere, intrigue, and thrills, A River in the Sky is further proof that “Peters has few rivals” (Houston Chronicle).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 6, 2010
    ISBN9780061987960
    Author

    Elizabeth Peters

    Elizabeth Peters earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago’s famed Oriental Institute. During her fifty-year career, she wrote more than seventy novels and three nonfiction books on Egypt. She received numerous writing awards and, in 2012, was given the first Amelia Peabody Award, created in her honor. She died in 2013, leaving a partially completed manuscript of The Painted Queen.

    Read more from Elizabeth Peters

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    Reviews for A River in the Sky

    3.5/5

    273 ratings21 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Peters gets to have fun with an a different locale.
    • 5/5
      Great, fast moving with lots of interesting historical details
    • 4/5
      This was entertaining but a bit slim in both plot and suspense. For a change, Ms. Peters set this novel in Palestine with the threat of WW I just over the horizon. My favorite parts of the book were those told from Ramses' point of view.
    • 3/5
      An amusingly told tale about spies and murder in Samaria, the reader does a great job capturing the characters.
    • 3/5
      A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters is the 19th book in the Amelia Peabody series, but it comes 12th in line chronologically. It's different from the others, as it's set in Palestine and it's set back in time — just before Children of the Storm.Peabody and Emerson decide to forego their usual season in Egypt to dig in Palestine. Ramses is to meet up with them but is kidnapped. Mixed in with all of this is a German plot to gain grounds with the Muslims and, of course, the Emersons find themselves right in the middle of things.I was reluctant to read yet another mystery set in pre-WWI Palestine, and doubly so about revisiting young Ramses. Thankfully Barbara Rosenbladt's performance kept me entertained, though the audio book did become my laundry folding book, meaning I wasn't drawn in enough to want to give it my full attention.Frankly this book can be skipped. It's filler for the die-hard fans but it's not something especially outstanding.
    • 4/5
      Elizabeth Peter’s latest yarn, “A River in the Sky” was a page turner and will leave the Amelia Peabody cult asking for more. Of note is the venue is not Egypt (!) this time, it is Palestine, with most of the action taking place within a day's travel of Jerusalem. Ramses, now single (I still get confused when the years of the excavation different from the series publishing chronology) is excavating with another archeologist and becomes the book’s designated “abductee” du jour. Plot twists not too contrived and all the familiar characters live up to the rich personae they have previously established. Recommended for anyone who likes a good mystery set in a well rooted historical setting. Required reading for the Peabody cult.
    • 4/5
      I love all the Amelia Peabody books; it was nice with this one to go back in time and get some extra stories we did not already know about the Emerson family!
    • 4/5
      More good fun with Amelia Peabody and the Emerson family. If you are not already a fan of the series this may not be the one to start on, if you are, dive in and enjoy Amelia and her parasol and tool belt., Ramses, Emerson and the gang. This is out of chronological order - a step back in the family chronicles, and set in Palestine rather than Egypt.
    • 5/5
      There is no river in the sky in this book, but there is a smashing good Amelia Peabody mystery! The book is set in 1910 just before the first World War, so it actually goes back in time a bit since the last book. In this book Ramses and Nefret are just brother and sister (although not by blood). And the book is set in Palestine, not Egypt which is a bit different for Amelia and her crew. I love these stories. They are always wonderful, and always funny. And the cast of characters cannot be beat. Peters has painted wonderful personalities for her characters and it's like visiting old friends when you pick up a new Amelia Peabody mystery. Ramses is the one that gets in a peck of trouble this time, but his intrepid family manage to come to his rescue. This series is pure delight and I was glad to read this new book.
    • 5/5
      This is the last book in the Amelia Peabody series to date, although it takes place out of chronological order.This time, in a bit of an aberration, the Emerson family heads to Jerusalem and the Holy Land rather than to Egypt. The plan is to meet up with Ramses who has been working on a dig in Samaria.While in Samaria, Ramses' insatiable curiousity and nose for trouble, (likely inherited from his fond maternal parent), leads him into a situation which may have dire consequences.Meanwhile, as the Emersons await his delayed arrival, they must avert an explosion of the powder keg that is made up of Jerusalem's multitude of religious sects. A thoughtless, incompetent excavator, a man who might well have ties to German intelligence, may have deliberately lit the fuse. I was very sorry to have come to the end of the Amelia Peabody series. It has been a great pleasure to have spent the last two summers with Amelia and her family.
    • 3/5
      This installment takes us back in time, and I found the plot and premise weak, though I always enjoy Barbara Rosenblat's narration.
    • 4/5
      I love all the Elizabeth Peters books. They are an easy, relaxing read. No violence or erudite wording. Just plain fun read.
    • 3/5
      Peabody goes to Jerusalen in search of ark, but really spying on Germans, infiltrating. Ramses kidnapped- interesting, but typical
    • 5/5
      Nineteenth in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Peters is one of the two pseudonyms of Barbara Mertz, who has a doctorate in Egyptology. Her other pseudonym is Barbara Michaels. The Michaels books tend to be Gothics, while as Peters she writes series and stand alone novels that tend to be humorous and to have strong women characters.The Amelia Peabody series is by far her most popular. It is about a family of archaeologists who generally go to Egypt during the winter archaeological season and then return to England. The series spans from the late 1880s to the 1920s. The family consists of Amelia, her husband Emerson, an archaeologist; their son Ramses, a linguist; their adopted daughter Nefret, a doctor; and a variety of relations, servants, cats, and, of course, villains.River In The Sky departs from the series' usual chronology and tells a story set in 1910, in Palestine. Ramses has gone to work on a dig in Samaria. His parents plan to go to Egypt as usual, but a man named Morley asks them to join him in looking for the Ark of the Covenent. They think he is a shyster and refuse, but the British government asks them to go watch Morley as they think he is a German spy trying to cause trouble in a volatile region. They are to meet up with Ramses in Jerusalem, but he doesn't appear. His best friend David disappears to look for Ramses. Meanwhile the family worries, but start their own dig, watch Morley, and try to figure out who the German spies are and who the mysterious Sons of Abraham are.The family are all larger-than-life characters, yet Peters writes so well that they also seem very real. Not many authors can carry a series this long and still keep readers wanting more. If you're new to the series, you've got some catching up to do - and you'll enjoy every minute.
    • 3/5
      The blurb:"August 1910. Amelia Peabody and her husband, Emerson, are relaxing at home in Kent. But adventure beckons when Major George Morley asks them to unearth the legendary Ark of the Covenant. Always skeptical, Emerson refuses until requests from the War Office and Buckingham Palace persuade him to reconsider by insisting that Morley is a German agent intent on stirring up trouble.Amelia and Emerson follow Morley to Jerusalem and hope to reunite with their son, Ramses, working north of the holy city. But before they can meet, Ramses learns of a deadly plot, information he must pass on to his parents - if he can get to them alive."I think that it is time for Elizabeth Peters to give up on Amelia Peabody and family. This book is marginally better than her last one,Tomb of the Golden Bird, which was a wind-up book and did nothing but tidy up the loose ends.The book is a fill-in book, set in Palestine in 1910 and is more about Ramses than the rest of the Emerson family. Emerson, himself, doesn't ruin another shirt which made me wonder if Elizabeth Peters actually wrote the book herself. (for those who haven't read the series, "Another Shirt ruined" is a catch phrase which even Terry Pratchett has borrowed. It appears, I think, in every other Peabody book.)
    • 5/5
      Excellent installment in the Peabody series. This episode predates some of recent books, going back before Ramses and Nefret's romance was begun. The narrative moved well, the characters were interesting, and the mystery's solution was not easily guessed (at least my me). Lots of twists and turns.
    • 3/5
      This is the nineteenth book in the Amelia Peabody series. Mrs. Peabody and her husband Emerson are very British archeologists who specialize in Egyptology in the early 1900's. This book, unlike the others, takes our adventurers to Palestine, otherwise known as the Holy Land, on a mission for the Crown. Even in these strange lands, loyal readers will find many of the familiar characters they have come to expect. Ramses, their son, has preceded them to a dig near Jerusalem, with a promise to stay out of trouble. Well, we know how that is going to turn out! The book is a light read, filled with very British, turn of the century attitudes. The author has created a world full of richness and detail. This is the first book of the series that I have read. I did not immediately take to the characters. The author seemed to be relying on instructing the reader as to whom the characters were and how they should interpreted, rather than allowing the reader to gain knowledge and insight into the characters through the action and flow of the storyline. As in any series, it would probably be best to start at the beginning and get to know the characters as they develop.
    • 4/5
      An interesting instalment in the series as we slip back in time to 1910 and find the family heading off to Palestine rather than Egypt. One of the problems with books that dip back in time is that we already know what happens so there’s no sense of tension when, for example, Ramses is held prisoner (as Ramses inevitably is) and that does diminish the reading experience. The story is fairly run of the mill for the series, but, as all the old favourites are here – the family are accompanied by Daoud and Selim and Abdullah manages an appearance – and Emerson roars and sparkles at appropriate and inappropriate moments, while Amelia a gets to wield her parasol, all the key elements which make this such a fun and engrossing series are present.
    • 2/5
      Tired, tired. It's a prequel to "The Falcon at the Portal." Since we know what happens in that book, should we care what happened right before that book?
    • 4/5
      Much better than the previous book. There was an actual plot in this one, including villains with actual motives.

      Shame the Kindle version was missing important punctuation, like quotation marks and spaces.
    • 4/5
      This is my all time favourite series of historical mysteries. Witty dialogue, romantic tensions, formidable females and men with attitude, brawn and brains characterise the Peabody-Emerson clan who seem to attract trouble as they make their way through archaeological season after season in late 19th/ early 20th century Egypt. The strength is in the wonderful English characters and the way they interact against a backdrop of beautiful Egypt and archaeological digs interrupted with incidents of murder, espionage and the like. The series progresses (mostly) chronologically so if you are new to the series, I recommend you start with the first book (Crocodile on the Sandbank).River in the Sky is the 19th in the series. Rather than Egypt, it is set in Palestine and Israel before the First World War and takes place back in time before earlier books in the series. As a fan of the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have become so fond of the characters that reading the books are like visiting an Aunt (Peabody) and listening spellbound to stories of her latest and most fantastic adventures. However, the plot was a little light on and I felt the adventure peaked about 30 pages from the end of the book. It lacked the romantic tensions of other books in the series and this detracted from the interactions between the characters. I was disappointed that Sethos, the master criminal and at that point in time nemesis of the Peabody-Emerson’s, did not make an appearance in the book as I found the ‘bad guys’ did not measure up to others in the series. Having said that, I highly recommend this series and dearly hope that Elizabeth Peters will continue to add more to it.