Laughter of Dead Kings (Vicky Bliss, No. 6)

Laughter of Dead Kings (Vicky Bliss, No. 6)
by Elizabeth Peters

Laughter of Dead Kings (Vicky Bliss, No. 6)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Elizabeth Peters
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-19
ISBN: 0061246247
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: William Morrow

Book Reviews of Laughter of Dead Kings (Vicky Bliss, No. 6)

Book Review: Boring, Boring, Boring
Summary: 2 Stars

It pains me to report that Laughter of Dead Kings was not good reading and I almost wish I had stopped at No. 5, Night Train to Memphis (which is, oh, so terribly delicious). I read the first five delightful Vicky Bliss novels and was surprised to find No 6 on the "new books" shelf at my library. The fact that there wasn't an extensive wait list at our library for a new Vicky Bliss book should have warned me off.

As opposed to the first 5 books (some of which I've read many times and have savored every absurd morsel, with relish) I had to force myself to finish Laughter of Dead Kings. I cringed as dialogue fell flat, was disappointed with the boring plots/subplots, and yearned for more of the wonderfully preposterous twists and turns usually associated with the series. The once-loveable character Schmidt became tedious as wealthy super-hero in the story (over and over again, he saved the day in a kind of a daddy warbucks role. Boring!) There was a remarkable paucity of the expected wacky suspense, silly humor, and sparkly romance in the book.

On a more positive note: the last chapter was ever-so-much more true to the spirit and spunk of the five previous novels and I enjoyed it very much (especially the reference to Amelia P. Emerson, which are also wonderfully fun cozy books to read). Let's face it, though, no review, good, or bad, will matter one bit to any true Vicky Bliss fan: Nothing could have stopped me from picking it up (with vigorous immediacy) the moment I saw it and it probably won't stop you.

Summary of Laughter of Dead Kings (Vicky Bliss, No. 6)

For the first time in more than a decade, New York Times bestselling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters brings beautiful, brainy Vicky Bliss back into the spotlight for one last investigation. But this time the peerless art historian and sleuth will be detecting in Amelia Peabody territory, searching for solutions to more than one heinous offense in the ever-shifting sands of Egypt's mysterious Valley of the Kings.

Who stole one of Egypt's most priceless treasures? That is the question that haunts the authorities after a distinguished British gentleman with an upper-crust accent cons his way past a security guard and escapes into the desert carrying a world-famous, one-of-a-kind historic relic. But the Egyptian authorities and Interpol believe they know the identity of the culprit. The brazen crime bears all the earmarks of the work of one ?Sir John Smythe,? the suave and dangerously charming international art thief who is, in fact, John Tregarth, the longtime significant other of Vicky Bliss. But John swears he is retired-not to mention innocent-and he vows to clear his name by hunting down the true criminal.

Vicky's faith in her man's integrity leaves her no choice but to take a hiatus from her position at a leading Munich museum and set out for the Middle East. Vicky's employer, the eminent Herr Doktor Anton Z. Schmidt, rotund gourmand and insatiable adventurer, decides to join the entourage.

But dark days and myriad dangers await them in this land of intriguing antiquity. Each uncovered clue seems to raise even more questions for the intrepid Vicky-the most troubling being, Where is John going during his increasingly frequent and unexplained absences? And the stakes are elevated considerably when a ransom note arrives accompanied by a grisly memento intended to speed up negotiations-because now it appears that murder most foul has been added to the equation.

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