Egypt – Carol's Notebook

The Antiquity Affair by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne

May 30, 2023May 30, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

The Antiquity Affair is a fun book. It's got history, action, suspense, family drama, and a bit of romance. Our main characters, sisters Lila and Tess, are wrapped up in a race for the Serpent’s Crown, a powerful legendary relic. They have friends and family on their side but of course, there's an evil brotherhood that also wants the crown so they can control Egypt and then, presumably, the world. I liked Lila and Tess and how they come to understand each other better throughout the book and work on repairing their relationship. Each of the women is capable in her own way and their skills play off each other's well. I listened to the audiobook and having two narrators, one for each of the women, worked out well. I do wish their voices had been a little more different. The book touches on women's place in society and the questionable ethics of removing historical artifacts from their countries of...

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

May 17, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

There are several short stories set in the same world as A Master of Djinn and I do wish I had read them first. A Master of Djinn does a fabulous showing us this Cairo and introducing the character, but the events from at least two of the stories are mentioned and I think reading them would have given me a better background. I may actually go back and read them now - I did love the world. A Master of Djinn is more or less a murder mystery set in a steampunk alternate 1912 Cairo where djinn live and work among mortals. Our investigator is Fatma from the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. The dead men and woman are members of an Al-Jahiz Secret Brotherhood, all found murdered, their bodies, but not their clothes, burned to a crisp. Turns out an imposter claimant to be Al-Jahiz returned is running around town causing all kinds of havoc. Clark...

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

September 10, 2018October 26, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

Death on the Nile is a classic Poirot mystery. Poirot is on vacation in Egypt, taking a cruise on the Nile - and of course a murder occurs. Happily, Colonel Race is on board too and the two of them take up the investigation. We've got a lot of people on board the cruise, including a young couple on their honeymoon who are being stalked by the husband's ex-girlfriend, a young society man and his mother, a romance author and her daughter, an elderly kleptomaniac and her travel companions, a couple questionable men, a maid, a doctor - so many that it can get a little confusing on audio. The narrator did a good job with all the voices, but it's still a lot. The characters are all interesting and have their own personalities and motives. And Poirot likes them all, or almost all of them. He gives several people passes on their less serious crimes. It's the "hush, hush" house....