TEMPLES, TOMBS, AND HIEROGLYPHS A Popular History of Ancient Egypt

Barbara Mertz is best known as a novelist, writing under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels, but in her earlier life she was an archaeologist, specializing in Egyptology. Mertz brings a novelist's skills to this popular history of ancient Egypt, first published in 1990, so the prose is hardly academic. However, even though the material has been revised and updated, it still feels dated in both its content and its cloying, almost patronizing, style. Lorna Raver's narration is skillful as always, and she cannot be held responsible for the book's tone. Neither can she shake off the flaws that make it sound schoolmarmish. D.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]