The Serpent on the Crown

The Serpent on the Crown  

First edition cover for The Serpent on the Crown
Author(s) Elizabeth Peters
Country United States
Language English
Series Amelia Peabody mysteries
Genre(s) Mystery, historical novel
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication date 2005
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 350 pp
ISBN 0-06-059178-1
OCLC Number 57008254
Dewey Decimal 813/.54 22
LC Classification PS3563.E747 S44 2005
Preceded by Guardian of the Horizon
Followed by Tomb of the Golden Bird

The Serpent on the Crown is the 17th in a series of mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody.

Plot summary

In 1922, the Emersons are excavating at Deir el Medina when a melodramatic visitor delivers a challenge—and a solid gold ancient statuette—to them: find out where it came from and why it brings bad luck to its owners. Emerson, of course, doesn't believe in curses, but he does believe someone has robbed a find of historic proportions. When their visitor turns up dead and her stepchildren disappear, everyone except the Emersons believe the murder is a family affair.

Ramses, meanwhile, finds a papyrus which he suspects to be of historic importance, and an assistant who is not all he seems.

Title

The book's title is from the Poetical Stela of Thutmose III:

"I have robbed their nostrils of the breath of life and made the dread of you fill their hearts. My serpent on your brow consumed them."

See also