Mon 10 May 2010
Reviewed by Walter Albert: PAUL DOHERTY – The Spies of Sobeck.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
PAUL DOHERTY – The Spies of Sobeck. Headline, UK, hardcover/softcover, December 2008. St Martin’s, US, hardcover, February 2010.
This is the seventh in Doherty’s dynastic Egyptian mystery series, with Amerotke, Chief Justice of the Hall of Two Truths, attempting to ferret out the instigators of a series of murders that threaten the stability of the regime of Queen Hatusu.
Once again, Doherty recreates the pomp and circumstance of one of the great Egyptian dynasties, highlighted by the vivid characterization of Pharaoh’s Chief Justice.
I will just note, in passing, that I’ve also read, and much enjoyed, the historical trilogy by Doherty that portrays the troubled and brilliant reign of the monotheistic Pharaoh Akenhaten, and that of his successor, Tutankhamen, through the eyes of Mahu, one-time Chief of Police and intimate of both pharaohs.
These are not traditional mysteries, but there are always secrets at the heart of every empire, and Mahu, like Amerotke, is adept at uncovering them. For the record, the three novels are An Evil Spirit Out of the West, The Season of the Hyena, and The Year of the Cobra, all also published by Headline.
May 10th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
There have been several good mystery series set in Ancient Egypt (and modern) including THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF EGYPTIAN WHODUNNITS. I’m not a big fan of Doherty, but will give this one a try.
It’s no easy trick to write well about a time and mindset so remote from our own, however constant some aspects of human nature are.
Though not mysteries, French Egyptologist Christian Jacq’s many novels are worth reading too, with intrigue and even murder among the elements, as are those by Pauline Gedge and Wilbur Smith.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Not really about ancient times, but an interesting mystery novel nevertheless, is THE EGYPTOLOGIST by Arthur Phillips.
May 11th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
I’ve read and enjoyed many of Wilbur Smith’s adventure novels, although not in recent years.
Lauren Haney’s series featuring Medjay Comander Lieutenant Bak, was one of my favorites, as was the shorter-lived Huy the Scribe series by Anton Gill. The Gill series may not have been published in this country; all of my copies are under the Bloomsbury imprint.
Linda Robinson’s Lord Meren mysteries made something of a stir in the late 1990s. In some ways, they were the most sumptuously written of the series I’m familiar with.
“The Mammoth Book” is, of course, an anthology, and a good one.
I’ve seen Christian Jacq’s novels on the the shelf at my local mystery book store but I’ve not sampled them. Pauline Gedge is not a name I’m familiar with (I’ll check out her books). I read “The Egyptologist” and can only recall that I found it clever but rather long-winded and tedious. I may have read it on one of my off days.
May 11th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I was trying to remember Lauren Haney’s name all last night, and it wouldn’t come to me. I enjoyed her Lt. Bak books also, somewhat surprisingly so, since stories taking place in ancient Egypt don’t usually appeal to me.
There were eight books in the series, beginning in 1997 and ending in 2003. After a gap of seven years now, I’m sure that that’s all there’s going to be — but it’s a good record. For some authors it’s three or maybe four books in a series and done.
May 11th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Walter
No, it probably wasn’t one of your off days. Although I found it to be clever and not at all tedious, I will admit that THE EGYPTOLOGIST could be thought of as being a bit on the expansive side.
May 11th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Dozy sums up THE EGYPTOlOGIST well. I enjoyed it in many ways, but not one I would easily recommend.
Haney’s Lt. Bak and Robinson’s Meren were both fine series, but I can’t imagine it is easy to come up with plots in that setting and time period. Any study of Egyptian culture reveals its almost alien aspect. But it does allow a writer to deal with motives for crime that most modern readers won’t guess in some cases. It’s amazing though how much more familiar books like Lindsay Davis Falco series or Saylor’s Gordianus seem in comparison. Even Agatha Christie’s Egyptian novel suffered a bit from the sheer alien aspect of life in the period.
I mentioned the MAMMOTH anthology because it features short adventures of many of the major Egyptian series writers from Robinson to the Mamur Zapt series in more modern times. Frankly I prefer my Egyptian novels closer to home such as the Mamur Zapt series or the Peabody books.
And on the subject, if you get a chance try Sax Rohmer’s BIMBASI BARUK of EGYPT, featuring an attractive half Egyptian sleuth/secret policeman in modern adventures. It’s one of Rohmer’s better creations, and you can try it out on-line before trying to find a copy.
Both Rohmer’s DAUGHTER OF FU MANCHU and Talbot Mundy’s classic JIMGRIM make good use of Egyptian locations including running gunfigths in and out of the Great Pyramid. I’m afraid that’s the low state of my taste for the Egyptian thing if truth be told.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
DAUGHTER and JIMGRIM reminds me of I FOUND CLEOPATRA by Thomas P. Kelley. A late 1930’s serial from WEIRD TALES, this short tale might be the most breathless, action-packed novel ever written. And the loopiest.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Dozy
I loved I FOUND CLEOPATRA, and you defined it perfectly. Breathless, action packed, and loopy.
Another good one is Talbot Mundy’s MYSTERY OF KHUFU’s TOMB where Jimgrim and company discover Khufu’s real tomb is on land owned by an American heiress and set out to find it. I love the part where they battle the giant blind albino crocodiles… Fiction may not have been better then, but it was more fun.