MURDER AT THE GOD'S
GATE by Lynda S Robinson
Allison & Busby - October 2001
ISBN 0749005815 - Paperback
Historical Crime / Ancient Egypt under Tutankhamun
Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy US || UK
Allison & Busby
continue to make this delightful US series available to UK readers. It
is still Year 5 of the fourteen-year-old Pharaoh's reign and once again
Tutankhamun's "eyes and ears" Lord Meren has his work cut out
for him to keep the peace. The Hittites, growing in strength while Akhenaten
devoted his energies to religious matters are amassing at Egypt's borders
and think that Egypt will soon fall to them, ruled as it is by a mere
boy. A lowly priest dies after falling from the top of a statue of the
Pharaoh and although it looks as though it might be a domestic murder
Meren has other ideas. When another murder follows on it seems as though
Egypt's enemies are closer to home - and what is Meren's bitter cousin
Ebana up to?
As in her earlier novel Murder in the Place of Anubis Robinson's easy
prose style makes for a fast and informative read. She has not fallen
into the trap that many writers of historical fiction do and tried to
put modern people in period costume into her story - this is very much
in the ancient world. Neither has she gone for dramatic effect and portrayed
the Egyptians as being unnecessarily cruel; instead a lot of solid research
underpins this series of novels. The supernatural stalks alongside the
natural but this is no fantasy story where strange things happen, just
the fact people believed many ordinary occurrences were the result of
divine intervention or magic. Whether Robinson is describing court plotters,
the daily doings of ordinary folk or the breathless thrill of a fight
or a hippo hunt this book is never less than highly readable. Highly recommended
for atmosphere, plot and well-researched historical detail
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