Sethos (Peabody mysteries)

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Sethos is the nom de guerre of the shadowy "Master Criminal" in the Amelia Peabody series of mystery novels.

He is first encountered in The Mummy Case, as the force behind an attempt to steal ancient treasures from Dahshoor. In Lion in the Valley, he is described thusly by an Englishman who hears of him during his brief foray into slum life:

"He has no name, only a variety of appellations. Those in his employ, I believe, refer to him as the Master. To others, less intimately associated with him, he is known as Sethos...The men who work for the Master are the cream of the criminal crop. To be chosen by him is a mark of honor. Even those who are not in his employ are in deadly terror of him, and it is said that his revenge on a traitor is swift and horrible." (LITV, chapter 5)

By the end of Lion in the Valley Sethos has confessed his desire to possess Amelia. After realizing that he cannot have her, he promises to give up his illegal trading of antiquities. He does, however, return several times to rescue Amelia from other foes. He is presumed dead at the end of The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog and again at the end of He Shall Thunder in the Sky, at which point we learn that he is also working for British Intelligence during the Great War.

It is revealed in He Shall Thunder in the Sky that "Sethos" is actually the illegitimate offspring of Radcliffe Emerson's father. Sethos' other family eventually includes his wife, Margaret Minton, grown daughter Maryam (from a previous relationship with Bertha, a former partner in crime), and grandchild, Maryam's son.

Sethos reveals his real name (Seth) to Evelyn Emerson in Children of the Storm. His pseudonym is thought to be a pun on the mythological Set, a god of Egypt who attempted to kill his brother Osiris. The rivalry of Sethos and Radcliffe is probably a mimic of Set's feud with Osiris, and Sethos' redemption a mimic of Set's transformation into a god of storm by Ra.

[edit] See also

• List of characters in the Amelia Peabody series

v • d • e Amelia Peabody Mysteries
Crocodile on the Sandbank | The Curse of the Pharaohs | The Mummy Case | Lion in the Valley | Deeds of the Disturber | The Last Camel Died at Noon | The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog | The Hippopotamus Pool | Seeing a Large Cat | The Ape Who Guards the Balance | The Falcon at the Portal | He Shall Thunder in the Sky | Lord of the Silent | The Golden One | Children of the Storm | Guardian of the Horizon | The Serpent on the Crown | Tomb of the Golden Bird
Non-fiction: Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium