THE DEEDS OF THE DISTURBER

That brilliant, flamboyant family of archaeologist-sleuths, the Emersons—robust Professor Radcliffe; feminist wife Amelia Peabody, and their young genius son Ramses—have returned to Victorian London for a few months respite from their labors in Egypt (Lion in the Valley, etc.). Comfortably housed in the town house of Radcliffe's brother Walter—but saddled with Percy and Violet, children of Amelia's thoroughly detested brother James—the Emersons are soon embroiled in some mysterious happenings at the Egyptian Room of the British Museum. A mummy housed there, the gift of deceased collector Lord Liverpool, has become a focus of superstition and fear based on the deaths of the night watchman and assistant curator Jonas Oldacre. In the meantime, near-spectral appearances by a tall, masked, and robed figure intoning prayers; veiled threats received by several Egyptologists; and newspaper accounts by journalists Kevin O'Connell and Margaret Minton add fuel to the fire. Eventually, the Emersons' sleuthing leads to an opium den, where Amelia meets an old flame of Radcliffe's, and later to Lord Liverpool's moldering ancestral mansion, now occupied by his dying son. They save the almost-victim of a dread ritual ceremony—and are saved in turn by a surprising band of rescuers. The London background lacks the exoticism that lends credibility to a bizarre plot; and Amelia's ever-increasing smugness is getting to be a bit of a bore, as are the constant, coy references to Radcliffe's virility. But Ramses is a real treasure, and to Amelia Peabody Emerson fans so, too, will be her new adventure.