| Amelia and Emerson are
planning the next expedition when Lord Blacktower and his grandson,
Reginald Forthwright, separately burst into the drawing room and beg
them to take their expedition up the Nile to Napata in the Sudan to
find the lost heir to Lord Blacktower's fortune, Willoughby Forth.
It seems that Willoughby disappeared
during the "troubles" with the Mahdi, taking his young
wife with him. Blacktower has received a message that he is
alive, and Reginald, who would be the heir apparent, if Willoughby
wasn't alive, has a special interest.
There is a map that they have brought
to Emerson, because it is written on the back of one of the pages of
his own notebooks. Emerson was one of the last people to see
Willoughby alive, but that was over 14 years ago.
Amelia and Emerson yearn to go and
dig at Napata, but the whole region is a war zone. Going on into the
Sudanese desert to search for Forth, is sheer folly.
However, mysterious forces work
toward drawing them into the desert and the narrative opens with
Amelia, Emerson and Ramses abandoned by their hired guides and
"the last camel died at noon."
This is a Grand Adventure in the
spirit of H. Rider Haggard and Indiana Jones, complete with lost
civilizations, treasures of gold, Egyptian Priestesses and
Princes.
Amelia and Emerson find the
unexpected and are caught up in the middle of the palace intrigue of
a lost remnant of Ancient Egypt. They also find the daughter
of Willoughby Forth, Miss Nefret Forth, Priestess of
Isis.
Nefret is beautiful, high spirited
and well trained in knife fighting. Ramses immediately falls
in love with her.
Events force Emerson, Amelia and
Ramses to flee, taking Nefret with them. When they return to
England, Nefret's grandfather is dead and she inherits his fortune.
She becomes the ward of Amelia and Emerson, who try to throw a cloak
of secrecy on the whole affair to protect Nefret and the vulnerable
"lost" civilization that is hidden in the desert.
This book introduces the recurring
character of Nefret Forth.
The British
Edition of The Deed of the Disturber has a derivative
cover design and a similar internal jacket blurb. Here are the
details for that volume.
 |
The
Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters
First Edition - British
Published by Warner Books, Inc., 1991.
ISBN: 0-3445-51483-7
Jacket Design - Ken Leeder
Illustration - Bill Teason
Other Editions: United
States |
|
