Elizabeth Peters

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Elizabeth Peters is a pseudonym of Barbara Louise Gross Mertz (* 29. September 1927 in Canton , Illinois , † 8. August 2013 in Frederick , Maryland ), a US-based thriller - writer .

Life

Barbara Mertz spent her school and university days in Chicago , where she received her BA in 1947 and an MA in 1950, and finally got a doctorate in Egyptology from the Oriental Institute in 1952 . During this time she wrote two non-fiction books about ancient Egypt, which are still available in bookshops today. At the same time, she was already writing several Gothic and Supernatural thrillers, which were also published from 1966, a total of 28 titles. At that time she spent two years in Germany for study purposes, including in Munich. A publisher approached her to write a fictional novel about Ancient Egypt and asked her to use a pseudonym to clearly distinguish her two book series.

She finally decided on the stage name Elizabeth Peters, which was composed of the names of her two children Elizabeth and Peter, and from now on these two paths ran side by side.

With Barbara Michaels , she chose a pseudonym for the crime series that, in good crime tradition, formed a monogram of her name. 1966 appeared under this name as the first title The Master of the Blacktower (Eng .: The Lord of the Black Tower ). As a result, she wrote a total of 28 (!) Novels, which are mainly written as Gothic and Supernatural thrillers, and are also read to this day.

As Elizabeth Peters , she published The Jackal's Head (English: The King's Tomb ) in 1968, the first novel that combined her two main passions of crime and Egyptology.

As Elizabeth Peters , she then wrote other series with female detectives . In 1972 she started the series about the librarian Jacqueline Kirby, and then in 1973 the Vicky Bliss series about an art historian working in Munich.

It was not until 1975 that the first novel appeared with the heroine Amelia Peabody, who would later become her most famous character. The novel was titled Crocodile on the sandbank (German as: The shadow of death). The world-famous series of bestselling novels resulted in a total of 19 volumes over the following years, which have also been translated into numerous languages.

In addition, Barbara Mertz continued to work scientifically and was a. a. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the KMT-Journal ("A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt"), named after the name Kemet for Ancient Egypt, of the Egypt Exploration Society and of the Circle of the Oriental Institute named after James Henry Breasted at the University of Chicago.

Mertz was also a determined feminist and gave this subject a special place in her novels. In this context, Mertz founded, among other things, "Malice Domestic", a Washington-based organization for female crime writers, because she was of the opinion that too many prizes were given predominantly to men. She also initiated a scholarship for women writers at Hood College .

Barbara Mertz died on August 8, 2013 at her home in Maryland.

Only from the estate and with the active help of her friend Joan Hess, who has unfortunately also passed away, was the last volume of the Amelia Peabody series "The Painted Queen" published on July 25, 2017, which quickly became a New York Times bestseller.

The remembering barbara mertz website was set up in her memory .

Awards

She won the Agatha Award for a surefire bestseller from the Jacqueline Kirby series . In 2004 she and Kristen Whitbread received the Agatha Award for the non-fiction book Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium and was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1998 she received the Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America .

Amelia Peabody series

The series about Amelia Peabody began in Egypt in the 1880s and has been continued chronologically ever since. The equally resolute and idiosyncratic Englishwoman Amelia - her trademark is a parasol, with which she is literally armed - meets the no less unconventional Radcliffe Emerson, who is also known among the local Egyptians as the "father of curses". Every year in the winter months, their life together from then on leads them to excavations in Egypt, where they unerringly find a crime (or it finds them). Later on, their son Ramses, who was initially a cheeky, clever kid, added to the family and later became more and more of a leading role.

The attraction of the Peabody novels is perhaps not so much in the adventurous crime stories as in the bizarre but lovable characters, the humorous, almost parodic scenes and plots and of course the atmosphere of the Egyptian excavations combined with the historical background .

Works (selection)

As Elizabeth Peters

Amelia Peabody

  • In the Shadow of Death (1975, Crocodile on the Sandbank )
  • The Curse of the Pharaohs (1981, The Curse of the Pharaohs )
  • The Mummy Shrine (1985, The Mummy Case )
  • In the Valley of the Sphinx (1986, Lion in the Valley )
  • The Sarcophagus (1988, The Deeds of the Disturber )
  • Lost in the Desert City (1991, The Last Camel Died at Noon )
  • The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog (1992, The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog )
  • The Ring of the Pharaoh (1996, The Hippopotamus Pool )
  • A Riddle for Ramses (1997, Seeing a Large Cat )
  • The Guardians of Luxor (1998, The Ape Who Guards the Balance )
  • The Curse of the Falcon (1999, The Falcon at the Portal )
  • The Thunder of Ra (2000, He Shall Thunder in the Sky )
  • The Lord of the Silent (2001, Lord of the Silent )
  • The Golden Goddess (2002, The Golden One )
  • The Lord of the Storm (2003, Children of the Storm )
  • Guardian of the Sky (2004, Guardian of the Horizon )
  • The Serpent on the Crown (2005 )
  • The Royal Tomb (2007, Tomb of the Golden Bird )
  • Death on the Temple Mount (2011, A River in the Sky )
  • Die Königin von Amarna (2017, The painted Queen , not yet published in German)
  • Amelia Peabody's Egypt (material volume) - (2003, Amelia Peabody's Egypt - A compendium , not yet published in German)

Jacqueline Kirby

  • The Seventh Sinner ( 1972, The Seventh Sinner )
  • The Last Masked Ball (Fatal Game) (1974, The Murders of Richard III )
  • An Award-Winning Murder (Die födliche Arznei) (1984, Die for Love )
  • A surefire bestseller (1989, Naked Once More ) - awarded the Agatha Award

Vicky Bliss

  • The Mysterious Shrine (1973, Borrower of the Night )
  • The Street of the Five Moons (1978, Street of the Five Moons )
  • The Blood Red Shadow (1983, Silhouette in Scarlet )
  • The Sunken Treasure (1987, Trojan Gold )
  • Cruise into the Unknown (1994, Night Train to Memphis )
  • The Hand of the Pharaoh (2008, The Laughter of Dead Kings , published in German 2010)

Other

  • The King's Tomb (1968, The Jackal's Head )
  • The Ring of Doom (1969, The Camelot Caper )
  • The Secret of the Ancient Scrolls (1970, The Dead Sea Cipher )
  • Shadows in the Moonlight (1971, The Night of the Four hundred Rabbits )
  • Dangerous Conspiracy (1976, Legend in Green Velvet )
  • The House of Spirits (1977, Devil May Care )
  • Summer of the Dragon (1979)
  • The Love Talker (1980)
  • The Copenhagen Connection (1982)
  • What You Can Murder Today (1992) - Elizabeth Peters presents Malice Domestic

As Barbara Michaels

  • The Master of the Blacktower (1966 )
  • Prisoners of Love (1967, Sons of the Wolf )
  • Time to Know (1973, Witch )
  • Love Lost (1985, Be Buried in the Rain )
  • Vanish With the Rose (1992 )
  • Falling into the Spell (1995, Stitches in Time )
  • The House of Darkness (1993, House of Stone )
  • Traces of the Past (1976, Patriot's Dream )
  • House of Return (Ammie, Come Home)
  • On the wings of love (Wings of the Falcon)
  • Dancer of Fortune (Wait for What Will Come)
  • Ambitions (Smoke and Mirrors)
  • The Black Rainbow (The Black Rainbow)
  • Shadow of happiness (Search the Shadows)
  • Dark memories (The Crying Child)
  • The Farewell Letter (Here I Stay)

As Barbara Mertz (non-fiction books)

  • Mummies, Temples, Pharaohs (1964, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs )
  • Black Land, Red Land (1966)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/08/barbara-mertz-dead-_n_3726611.html