2018 historical thriller, third of its series. After the artist on an
archaeological expedition disappears, as does a valuable relic, the
newspapers are keen to dig up scandal; and his wife used to be married
to Stoker, Veronica Speedwell's undeclared beau. So really they can't
do anything but investigate.
I was slightly soured on this by the blatant Vanishing Hotel
Room setup: yes,
all right, our principals wouldn't have known about the legend since
it wouldn't be invented until 1897 and this book is set in 1888, but
the readers do know and probably assume a thing that takes rather
longer to come up as an idea in the book.
The actual main plot, on the other hand, is much more interesting,
with the expedition's leaders complaining about all the "mummy's
curse" nonsense being bandied about by the press, and a variety of
potentially interested parties who might be responsible for the random
appearances of Anubis. It's all quite enjoyable to follow along and
work out the mystery, and in the meantime we get more background on
Stoker and his life before the series started.
There may not be much progress in the relationship that's obviously
the core of the series, but I felt that Raybourn managed the balance
between short- and long-term plot elements effectively, even if Stoker
sometimes seems in retrospect like a thoroughgoing fool. Still, he's
done some growing by the time we meet him.
The series continues to be enjoyable fun that's not really trying for
anything deeper.