The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters [0]
Praise for Elizabeth Peters’
Amelia Peabody novels
‘Dastardly deeds, whirlwind romances, curious mummies and all the fun and intrigue of Egyptian excavations, with a heroine who wields a sturdy parasol rather than a magnum. Accomplished entertainment.’
Guardian
‘Between Amelia Peabody and Indiana Jones, it’s Amelia – in wit and daring – by a landslide.’
New York Times Book Review
‘If Indiana Jones were female, a wife and a mother who lived in Victorian times, he would be Amelia Peabody Emerson.’
Publishers Weekly
‘A writer so popular that the public library has to keep her books under lock and key.’
Washington Post Book World
‘Amelia Peabody Emerson, archaeologist extraordinaire, and arguably the most potent female force to hit Egypt since Cleopatra, is digging in again!’
Philadelphia Enquirer
Titles in this series currently available
from Constable & Robinson
Crocodile on the Sandbank
The Curse of the Pharaohs
The Mummy Case
Lion in the Valley
The Deeds of the Disturber
The Last Camel Died at Noon
The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog
The Hippopotamus Pool
Seeing a Large Cat
The Ape Who Guards the Balance
The Falcon at the Portal
Thunder in the Sky
Lord of the Silent
The Golden One
Children of the Storm
Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com
First published in the US in hardback by Warner Books, 1996
First published in paperback, 1997
This paperback edition published by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2002
Copyright © 1996 by MPM Manor, Inc.
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, or re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1-84119-485-9
eISBN: 978-1-78033-450-9
Printed and bound in the EU
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
To George and Dennis
Contents
Acknowledgements
Characters Appearing or Referred to in The Hippopotamus Pool
Introduction
I. The Trouble with Unknown Enemies Is That They Are So Difficult to Identify
II. A Lady Cannot Be Blamed If a Master Criminal Takes a Fancy to Her
III. Abstinence, As I Have Often Observed, Has a Deleterious Effect on the Disposition
IV. Candour Is Not a Conspicuous Characteristic of Criminals
V. The Fatal Fall of a Fellah
VI. Another Shirt Ruined!
VII. The Soft Voice of the Father of Curses Is Like the Growl of an Angry Lion
VIII. No Innocent Person Can Lead a Life So Free of Harmless Vice
IX. Buried Alive!
X. Men May Be Violently Attracted by Attributes That Are Not Immediately Apparent
XI. I Have Known Several Villains Who Were Perfect Gentlemen
XII. It Is Better to Have a Demon As a Friend Than an Enemy
XIII. Humour Is an Excellent Method of Keeping a Tight Rein on Unproductive Displays of Emotion
XIV. Most People Obey the Orders of an Individual Who Is Pointing a Gun at Them
XV. No Mystery Is Insoluble – It Is Simply a Matter of How Much Time and Energy One Is Willing to Expend
Acknowledgements
I HAVE badgered and bored almost all my Egyptological friends about this book. I am particularly indebted to the following for supplying offprints, photographs, suggestions and encouragement:
Dennis Forbes, editor of KMT (who also suggested the title); George B. Johnson, his skilled colleague and photographer extraordinaire; The Wilbour Library of Egyptology of the Brooklyn Museum; Dr Donald Ryan,