Series:
Lady Traveler in Egypt
Book description courtesy of Goodreads
Escape on an Egyptian excursion to the land of the Pyramids.
Tour highlights include Hieroglyphics and high tea in the desert, followed by murder after sunset.
It’s 1924 and Blix Windway has made a career out of her wanderlust, giving lectures to ladies’ groups about everything from the flora of the American desert to the beauty of the Swiss Alps, but she needs new material for her talks.
She strikes what seems to be an ideal agreement with an eccentric older lady. Blix will be her travel companion during a journey to Egypt, helping to smooth the way through customs and coordinate sightseeing tours. The arrangement will provide Blix with the perfect opportunity to photograph the pyramids and gather material for her next lecture series.
But they’ve barely left England before the trouble begins; rough seas and an attempted robbery. Then a murder occurs during a tour of the pyramids.
Despite the attempts of the British officials to sweep the death under the rug, Blix becomes increasingly convinced that one of their tour party is a murderer.
Blix’s search for the truth takes her from the posh sporting clubs and lavish gardens of Cairo to the narrow, twisting lanes of the city’s centuries-old bazaar and the vast desert around the Giza Plateau. Can Blix unearth the truth before the killer makes this journey her last?
Join Blix on this classic murder mystery from Sara Rosett, author of the beloved High Society Lady Detective series.
My Thoughts:
I had not read any Sara Rosett books before this one but have several of her samples in my Kindle. This one was available on Libby. It was cute. Very similar to some Agatha Christie type books and the author says Elizabeth Peters was an inspiration for the Egyptian setting.
The main character, Blix is smart and resourceful and brave in her quest to find the killer of one of the tourists she is involved with, Vita Duncan. With her travel companion and the woman funding her vacation, Hildy Honeyworth, and others, she works the clues including a mysterious package she was asked to deliver to someone in Egypt.
It turns out that Vita was obsessed with a diary written by a Cornelius Duncan who lived long ago and founded something called Pyramidology. Blix must contend with the local law enforcement who are slow to care about the murder of Vita and when another occurs are fast to assume it was committed by a local and of no relation to the first murder. Blix contends with the police, stolen jewelry, and annoying social climbers who don't do much to help in the process. Of course, she eventually prevails and all is righted in the end.
I enjoyed the story but felt like the author included very scant details about the time and setting. It was very similar to other stories which include the main attractions: Shepard's Hotel, the pyramids, etc. While it was an interesting mystery with lots of detours, I didn't feel immersed in the culture or time as much as expected. Still, overall, a good story and I definitely would read the next book about traveling down the Nile. The characters were cute and the story engaging. This is what makes the story more than the setting. I give cozies a lot of room in this regard because if I come away with cute, engaging characters and a good mystery it has done the job.
Rosett is the author of several other series including the successful HIgh Society Lady Detective mysteries.
