What We're Reading: Cathy

A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

It's 1910 and the Emersons are trying to figure out what to do now that they can't go to Egypt's Valley of the Kings to excavate. Ramses is in Palestine, helping an American archaeologist. The receive a visit from a couple of rather strange men, Major Morley and Reverend Panagopolous, who want them to help find a scroll and the Ark of the Covenant. Preposterous! But a conversation with British Intelligence convinces the family that they too need to go to Palestine to watch over Major Morley both because of his poor archaeological skills and because he may be a German spy. There are the usual kidnappings and near escapes. I found interesting her portrayal of Palestine at the end of the Ottoman Empire and how the British and Germans were already secretly fighting over who was going to rule.