When I finally got my hands on The Falcon At The Portal, I felt the familiar rise of Petersonian fever. I let the house go hang, sent the children out to play in the traffic, and immersed myself in the delights of Amelia Peabody and company. What followed was satisfying and surprising. Unlike most mysteries, the latest offerings in this series seem to be more character driven than story driven. The relationships among some of the main characters have become excruciatingly complicated, but in ways I never could have imagined after reading the preceeding book. Peters generates considerable heat between Ramses and Nefret. The passionate, loving and devoted marriage of Amelia and Emerson remains comfortingly central to the action. A crucial new character is introduced, cousin Percy is resurrected, and Abdullah is mourned on every page. The mystery is tidily wrapped up at the end of the book, but personal loose ends are left floating everywhere. If Ms. Peters insists on writing cliff-hangers, it is my fervent hope that she is eating properly, getting regular check-ups, and looking both ways before she crosses the street! I eagerly await the next installment.
Rating: 4 / 5

I adore the Amelia Peabody novels because they are so unlike any other mystery series. First, the bulk of the time is spent on archeological digs pursuing important scholarship in Egypt. Second, the characters are so outrageously original (Amelia is an early 20th century Wonder Woman who passionately craves her husband, Emerson is a steam boiler always about to go off on some emotional tangent or other, Ramses is a mixture of Oliver Twist and Super Boy, Nefret is Elizabeth Taylor in Dr. Florence Nightingale’s role — you get the idea). Third, the plots always involve lots of local history and interesting perspectives on manners of the period. Fourth, the whole crew is always off on some unexpected adventure or other. I often wonder how any of them ever sleep, between their day-time adventures and the clandestine night-time ones. It makes me tired just to think about them.

The characters have really grown on me. This is one of the few series I have read where the characters are probably the main attraction. The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout have a similar attraction for me.

In this book (as in the recent ones), the action revolves around tensions among the family members. Clearly, everyone wants more psycholoical space, but the others good-heartedly want to look out for each other and impinge on that space. One would think these characters had read Freud.

Two characteristics of this book bothered me. It seems like the loose ends were greater in the family drama at the end of the book than they were at the beginning. I don’t mind if Elizabeth Peters is going to do that, but she should bring out two books at the same time when she does so we are not left waiting so long for the resolution.

My other concern is that I think that Peters cheated a bit with Nefret’s actions and emotions in this one. The Nefret I had built up in my mind (child goddess of the desert who captivates all and sundry who come within her reach) disappeared in this novel, and seemed to be replaced by an imposter. I think that Peters owes it to us to close this gap with one of her upcoming books.

If you have not read any of the Amelia Peabody mysteries, DO NOT START WITH THIS ONE! Most of the joy of these novels comes in the build-up of the characters from one book to the next. While you need not read them all, you certainly should work through them chronologically from the earliest publication date. Have a great time when you do, and keep your tongue firmly in your cheek!
Rating: 5 / 5

My husband and I are avid “groupies” of Amelia Peabody & Company. The Falcon at the Portal was by far our favorite. Yes we were disappointed that Nefret was not destined for Rameses in the true Victorian sense (after all Amelia thrives on Victorian values does she not?). And yes we were disappointed when the book ended with no hint of Nefret’s future…BUT this book of all the others drew us in so closely to what was taking place that we were emotionally tied to the two and felt true loss for Ramses…now that’s what a good story should do! At the conclusion, although we were left hanging, we snapped out of it and ran to the computer to see if a sequel was available. What a relief it was to see that, yes indeed, Ms. Peters had been true to her readers and provided us with yet an another opportunity to follow along with her and her family as they mature through yet another episode of life. This has made her characters much more real and endearing to us. Bravo for Ms. Peters! We are looking forward to walking through the rest of lives with Amelia, Emerson and the rest of Amelia Peabody and Company!
Rating: 5 / 5