Helpful Score: 4
Written just like one of the old black and white Mummy movies from the 40's. I love it - great mystery with a bit of the supernatural thrown in.
Pamela L. (grandpam) -
Helpful Score: 1
Ancient Egypt, endlessly fascinating and a passion of archelogists since the finding of the first tomb in the late 1800's to the present day. I found this book rather simplistic and juvenile. I think I would rate it as a "young adult book." The characters were cardboard with the exception of the narrator and you did get to see inside his thoughts somewhat. The mystery/murder was rather basic, you had the obligatory secret love affair that was thrown in at the last and within another paragraph was explained away. I gave it 2 stars only because it did give some description of tomb paintings, but really not much else. If you like a good juicy archelogical mystery, don't bother.
Karen S. (CacaoBear) reviewed Murder in the Mummy's Tomb (G.K. Chesterton, Bk 2) on + 84 more book reviews
I've read several of this style of mystery/fiction - where a real life mystery writer )or other famous person) ends up as a character in the story. Most of them, I've thoroughly enjoyed. This one, I only partially enjoyed. This is billed as a "G.K. Chesterton Mystery" but Chesterton plays only a supporting role. He shows up as a guest to an archeological dig in Egypt in 1919. The hero of our story is apprentice archeologist Philip Flinders. The entore dig team is beyond excited when they unearth an intact tomb and begin exploring the treasures within. Work comes to a screeching halt, however, when one team member is mysteriously found dead inside the sarcophagus. With no obvious way for the victim to have gotten inside the tomb, the game's afoot (whhops! Wrong fictional detective!). For some inexplicable reason, both Chesterton and the local constabulary adopt Flinders as their confidant and man-of-action ... pressing him into service chasing criminals, searching crime scenes and interviewing witnesses and suspects. A deadly sandstorm hits! A man goes missing! Another body appears! Romances are broken and also made! It's like reading an infomercial - BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!" And all of this in a mere 250-ish pages. It should have beeen a mile-a-minute read, but I while I liked Flinders well enough, I never felt particularly connected to the people, the setting or the plot. This is supposed to be a twist on a locked-room mystery, but I knew (albeit only roughly) how the murder was committed from very early on - the fact that it wasn't until 10 pages from the end before anyone else realized it is a bit hard to swallow. The ancient Egypt setting is beautifully described, and it makes me wish I could take part in a dig some day. There is an element of religion/philosophy involved, as that is Chesterton's forte, but mostly in the dinner-table conversations, not as part-and-parcel of the mystery or its solution.
Ron K. (WhidbeyIslander) -
Not really 254 pages long, which is one of the good things about this book. (Lots of blank pages scattered throughout and most of the dialogue has blank lines inserted between sentences.)
The author throws too many characters at you within the first few pages (but happily, he also provides one of those Cast of Character lists in the front.)
The narrator is a young man smitten with the incredibly beautiful daughter of the expedition's leader (always a tiresome trope). The murder isn't discovered until about a third of the way in, and is actually treated like a subplot as the visiting official (looking for a criminal in the area, which is like a plot steal from The Hound of the Baskervilles) looks into the killing. The addition of G.K. Chesterton is silly and his posturing and pompous views are not welcome. Since there is discussion about the layout of the dig and one of the members draws intricate diagrams of the chamber, maybe a copy could have been provided.
There are skippable passages when the (two!) religious members of the group spout off, as are descriptions of walking in the sands. The whole thing is sort of amateurish and not recommended as a mystery, a look into Egyptian archeology or anything else really. Dedicated to John Dickson Carr, the author used Fell as the name of a major character as well as the name âColonel Race,â although this book never approaches the level of either Carr or Christie (or for that matter Chesterton.) There is also an episode of an attack on a member of the group that is never explained or referred to again.
Chesterton solves the riddle of the crime and his explanation at the end prompted me to add one star to my rating -- almost taken away because he then pontificates for two pages about death in general. (Nice cover, though.)
The author throws too many characters at you within the first few pages (but happily, he also provides one of those Cast of Character lists in the front.)
The narrator is a young man smitten with the incredibly beautiful daughter of the expedition's leader (always a tiresome trope). The murder isn't discovered until about a third of the way in, and is actually treated like a subplot as the visiting official (looking for a criminal in the area, which is like a plot steal from The Hound of the Baskervilles) looks into the killing. The addition of G.K. Chesterton is silly and his posturing and pompous views are not welcome. Since there is discussion about the layout of the dig and one of the members draws intricate diagrams of the chamber, maybe a copy could have been provided.
There are skippable passages when the (two!) religious members of the group spout off, as are descriptions of walking in the sands. The whole thing is sort of amateurish and not recommended as a mystery, a look into Egyptian archeology or anything else really. Dedicated to John Dickson Carr, the author used Fell as the name of a major character as well as the name âColonel Race,â although this book never approaches the level of either Carr or Christie (or for that matter Chesterton.) There is also an episode of an attack on a member of the group that is never explained or referred to again.
Chesterton solves the riddle of the crime and his explanation at the end prompted me to add one star to my rating -- almost taken away because he then pontificates for two pages about death in general. (Nice cover, though.)
Thomas F. (hardtack) -
A thoroughly enjoyable story, but like other reviewers I had this figured out long before the characters did. All that was left to reveal was the motive.
