The Ape Who Guards the Balance

Barbara Mertz is an American author who writes under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. Barbara Mertz has a Ph.D from the University of Chicago in Egyptology, studying under John A. Wilson, which she received at the age of 23. She has written two books on ancient Egypt , but has... primarily written mystery and suspense novels. She has been a published writer since 1964. Under the name Barbara Michaels, she writes primarily gothic and supernatural thrillers. The name was chosen by her publisher since she had already published one nonfiction book on ancient Egypt, and the publisher did not want her novels to be confused with her academic work. She publishes her Amelia Peabody series under the name Elizabeth Peters, a nom de plume drawn from the names of her two children. She is member of the Editorial Advisory Board of KMT, , Egypt Exploration Society and the James Henry Breasted Circle of the Oriental Institute. As of 2010, this series contains 19 books; the most recent, A River in the Sky, was published in April 2010.
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The Amelia Peabody series is a series of mystery novels written by Elizabeth Peters featuring Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson, for whom the series is named. The novels are intended as a blend of parody , mystery, and comedy. The series spans a thirty-eight year period from 1884 to 1923 and is... primarily set in Egypt, with some installments including action in England and Gaza. So far, one novel in the series takes place entirely in England, while the recently published A River in the Sky is set primarily in Ottoman Palestine. The first installment, Crocodile on the Sandbank, was first published in 1975. By the late 1990s, new books were published at the rate of one annually, with many of the later books in the series appearing on the New York Times Bestseller List for fiction. The latest installment in the series, A River in the Sky, was released in 2010.. It is the 19th novel in the series, which also includes a non-fiction companion book, Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium.
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