Anubis Slayings (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries 3) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Doherty knows how to plot a mystery and convey his setting but as a reader familiar with the history and culture of ancient Egypt, and particularly with the period of Hatshepsut, I found myself constantly distracted by inaccuracies.There's a carelessness with names and titles of historical figures. I can live with his use of Hatasu instead of the more usual Hatshepsut, however Hatshepsut's favorite, Senenmut, who figures prominently in the series, held over the course of his long and extravagently honored life something like 80 titles. He was never, however, Hatshepsut's Vizier, his principle title in the series. For another example there is a climactic scene in which the hero, Chief Judge Amerotke, confronts and captures a group of tomb robbers--the problem is the tomb robbers are riding camels. The camel was not introduced into Egypt until several hundred years after the time this story takes place. A bronze key plays a major role in the plot but (and I could be wrong on this) the Egyptians in the 18th dynasty relied on seals to keep their valuables safe. Locks as we know them hadn't been invented.
This is a shame because on the whole this is a good story in a fun series complete with an interesting take on the historical events and characters. I hate to sound like a pendantic prig--I really like historical mysteries and am willing to overlook a few howlers and anachronisms if the story's good, but in this case the factual errors really distracted from my enjoyment of the book.
I hope the author's listening.

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