LoginApril 2022 Notable Author: Elizabeth Peters
“When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one's footing.” – Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Louise Mertz (1927 – 2013) was a Maryland author who wrote under her own name, as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. She was born in Astoria, IL., grew up in Oak Park, IL., and attended Ernest Hemingway’s high school. She became enchanted with Egypt as a teenager after her aunt took her to see the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. This attraction was her motivation to get a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Egyptology.
She wrote two scholarly books on ancient Egypt in the 1960s (both of which have been continuously in print since first publication), but was unable to find work in academia. When she turned to fiction, she discovered she was good at it and that readers enjoyed her brand of historical intrigue. Her trick was to weave the curiosities of ancient Egypt and archaeology into her stories. Dr. Mertz produced one success after another and became one of the most popular writers of her era and genres (Archeological Mystery and Suspense). She is famous for her Amelia Peabody series, a mystery/adventure series in which the heroine is an Egyptologist working in Egypt at all the famous archeological excavations. The series contains twenty books.
Elizabeth Peters had a strong work ethic and wrote with extraordinary speed. She once remarked that she had lost count of how many she’d written after she had published fifty novels. Washington Post writer Sarah Booth Conroy noted that Elizabeth Peter’s novels were “the literary equivalent of multiple gin-and-tonics.” They were “to be taken in times of self-indulgence, physical pain, or mental anguish because they came with a guarantee that evil will be punished, good will be rewarded, pleasingly plump women will seduce brilliant men with bulging muscles, and all will be set right in the world.”
Dr. Mertz was married to Richard Mertz for 19 years and had two children (Peter and Elizabeth) from which she took her pen name. Dr. Mertz died at her home in Frederick, Maryland at age 85.
Genre: ARCHEOLOGICAL MYSTERY
An early version of the techno-thriller, this genre sets mysteries in archeological settings and allows the author to sprinkle highly detailed descriptions of excavations and the archeological process into the story.
Sample Reading List: Nonfiction - Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt; Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Fiction - Amelia Peabody Series, The Vickie Bliss Mysteries, Jacqueline Kirby Series.
Writer's Prompt - Fun With Words
Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing Archeological Mystery like Elizabeth Peters. With just 100 words, create a character at an archeological site who has a mystery to solve and include detailed Egyptological information.
Title your work and submit to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month to receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses will be published with next month’s article as well as posted on the MWA website.
Submit Your FUN WITH WORDS Prompt
The MWA is a 33-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors. Go to: www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.
Reader Responses:
Lawrence McGuire
May. 20, 2022Serpents on the Shadows by Lawrence McGuire - Waldorf: Professor Hadrian Hawk never got over the jolt of stumbling upon a corpse. By lantern light, the former Rough Rider found the missing Catholic priest, the Rev. Cornelis Aadrens, a Biblical archaeologist from Amsterdam, face up on the dusty foundation stones of an aborted Old Kingdom pyramid. Someone had placed around Aadrens nine wax figures of hatchling cobras. Hawk shivered, night's cold slithering under his field clothes. In Cairo, the rational British advised the khedive's government. But, here, among the expedition's thirteen members, lurked a killer who wanted scientists to fear that sorcery reigned in this ghost city of the Pharaohs.
Jon Ketzner
May. 20, 2022Woke Like An Egyptian by Jon Ketzner - Cumberland: Dr, Quinn Tischler gives Teddy Gill credit. The Yale blowhard did tumble onto the New Kingdom papyrus in the Alexander Henry Rhind collection at the British Museum. The forgotten scrap hints at where Cleopatra’s buried...only the greatest unsolved mystery of ancient Egypt. Gill and Jonah Awad from the University of Cairo, another blowhard, are on site at Ptolemais Hormou certain they’ll soon find Mrs. Marc Anthony’s mummified self. Quinn’s hundreds of miles east in Myos Hormos on the Red Sea, leading her own dig and sure she and Cleo will soon be BFFs. Sipping wine in her tent, Quinn thinks “It’s handy being the world’s foremost hieroglyphologist.....and Elon Musk’s girlfriend.”
N. Mac Garner
May. 20, 2022Saqqara Sacking by N. Mac Garner - Tilghman Island: In his office, Mayik fist-bumped Alana as he praised the team’s excavation progress this week. “Let’s go to the lab to inspect the amphora discovered yesterday.” Mayik led the way past the archives out to the walkway heading towards the North gate. As they approached the gate, fear rose as they stared at a jumbled lot of dirty canvas bags on the path. The shaggy haired scholar named Jinga ran towards them shouting, “Help, get security, the tomb of the orchard supervisor has been ransacked!” All at once, there was a blood-curdling scream from behind and chaos erupted.
Brett Dimaio
May. 20, 2022The Curious Case of Mr. Rameses by Brett Dimaio - Cumberland: “I’m an Egyptologist- why are the police asking me about a murder?” “Well, Dr. Thebes, it’s because the victim was found mummified in his own home, encased in an elaborately decorated wooden coffin, inside a limestone sarcophagus.” “Hmm. Were there any earthen jars nearby?” “Yeah- with guts in them” “Sounds like the Second Dynasty gang has struck again. I’ll be right over- and Sgt. Ankh” “Yes?” “Watch out for the curse”
Doris Brady
May. 20, 2022Tomb Raiders by Doris Brady - LaVale. - The sun was peaking over the Valley of the Kings as Alison arrived at the site of yesterday’s excavation. After weeks poring over satellite and drone images of the iconic Egyptian landscape, the archeologist had spotted an anomaly in the terrain. Her plan was to have her crew enlarge and stabilize the entryway to a possible tomb. As she was lowered into the opening, Alison was overcome with excitement, until she tripped over the body of a worker. The violence of Ancient Egypt had spilled into present day. Before she could even locate a sarcophagus, the tomb had become a crime scene.
Steve Baker
May. 20, 2022Egyptian Pickers by Steve Baker - Hughesville. - Maine-Diana Bones was a hard-nosed gal with a nose for archeology. Following her nose, Maine-Diana put her nose in the books as she nosed around the latest "Mystery-of-Antiquity": You can pick the Sphinx, and you can pick your nose but you can’t pick the Sphinx’s nose. WHY? Because where it is: nobody "knows" [rim shot] Even if Maine-Diana had to pay through the nose then cut it off to spite her face, she wouldn’t let this mystery thumb its nose at her! Since the answer wasn’t right under her nose, Maine-Diana would put her nose to the grindstone. Maine-Diana Bones was on the case....and she wasn’t going to blow it.