Murder Among the Pyramids, published in October 2024, is the first in the Lady Traveler series by veteran author Sara Rosett.
Our Sleuth: Blix Windway, closer to spinsterhood at nearly 30 than debutante, makes her living by traveling to exotic places and giving lectures about her adventures to wealthy English audiences. This is by necessity, we learn, as she jilted a groom at the altar after discovering some unsavory behavior and her father cut her off.
The Setting: It’s 1924 and we travel with Blix to Egypt, where she stays at the wealthy Shepheard’s hotel in Cairo between excursions to the pyramids, a sprawling bazaar and the surrounding desert.
The Premise: Blix is in need of fresh material for her lectures so she hires on as a paid companion to a woman traveling to Egypt. She’s also carrying a package pressed upon her by a friend to deliver to an Englishman there. Things go awry rather quickly, as Blix stops an attempted robbery on the docks, discovers her room on board the ship has been searched, and learns the package is not what she was led to believe. It’s in Cairo, during a camping trip to see the pyramids by moonlight, that Blix discovers the dead body of a rich American heiress, her throat cut. With suspicion falling on her traveling companion, Blix sets out to find the murderer.
My Take: Mystery lovers know there’s no shortage of historical tales set in Egypt, from Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile to Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series. So it takes a confident author to try her hand at such an iconic period and setting. I’m happy to report that Sara Rosett, an author new to me but not to publication, pulls it off. From the first page, I was drawn to Blix, who’s had to figure out how to make her way in a world unfriendly to independent women. The supporting characters, like the older and ostentatiously clad Hildy Honeyworth, add humor and depth. And the settings themselves, such as the campsite in the desert, are delightfully detailed.
As a new writer, I’m intrigued by how Rosett is able to keep the action moving while building her characters. We’re 200 pages and many chapters into the book before the first death, and yet the pace doesn’t feel the least bit slow. The book opens in an English tearoom, flashes to a ship surging on rough waves, then to an aborted robbery attempt, an automobile race through Paris, and so on. Throughout, we’re learning about Blix and her past as “the jilter” while various new characters are introduced. For writers, it seems there is often a tension between action and character building — in Rosett’s case, she’s figured out a strong balance.
Opening Lines:
“It’s of direst importance. Please, Blix. The package must get to Cairo. You’re on your way there. You could pop it in your bag … “
Percy Smitherington’s brown eyes reminded me of Lucky, the housekeeper’s spaniel and my constant companion during my solitary childhood. I steeled myself against Percy’s pitiful expression. Even if I was traveling to Egypt, I wasn’t a package service. “Why not send it in the diplomatic pouch? It will get there faster than if I take it.”
The waitress arrived at our table and Percy waited until she’d delivered the teapot and left. I had to strain to hear him over the noisy chatter of the tearoom as he said, “The thing is, I can’t send it that way. I intended to, but I mucked things up. Old Featherhead would be furious if he knew what happened.”
Heads Up: This is firmly in the cozy category so there’s little to no violence, gore, sex or profanity on the page.
Etc.: Rosett is a new author to me and I quickly began seeking out her other work. I’m currently entranced by her modern Murder on Location series, set in the English countryside.
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