Lord Meren Books
Who has dared to desecrate the sacred place of embalming with a murdered corpse? Pharaoh Tutankhamun orders Lord Meren, his chief investigator, to find out quickly, before power-mad priests use the incident to undermine his royal authority. Everyone is a suspect, for the body belongs to the notorious scribe Hormin, hated by all who knew him. However, Lord Meren is no mere courtier but the Eyes and Ears of the living god. In the terrifying Place of Anubis, where unquiet spirits dwell, in the sunstruck city of Thebes, where Hormin's sons and his beautiful concubine plot, and in the royal court, where intrigues abound, Lord Meren hunts his quarry, peeling back the secrets of nobles and slaves in his quest for the truth. But more important by far is Meren's responsibility to protect the young Pharaoh from his enemies -- who are no farther away than the length of a dagger . . . . "This exceptional debut melds ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and practices with court intrigue to produce a riveting mystery." -- Publishers Weekly
"DELIGHTFUL. . . Robinson makes ancient Thebes come alive as she describes the personalities, clothing, golden jewelry, the intrigue, and the smells of the desert, the terrors of a hippo hunt." --San Francisco Examiner When a priest dies in a mysterious fall from atop a statue of Tutankhamun, many consider the death a fateful one for the fourteen-year-old pharaoh and his reign. Indeed, the Hittites are already at Egypt's borders, and the enemies of the late heretic pharaoh Akhenaten have transferred their implacable hatred to the young pharaoh. Concealed by the luxury of the court at Thebes lie viciousness, evil, and murder. Not even Lord Meren--the confidential inquiry agent who must see to the boy king's safety--can name the master plotters. But until the enemies of the living god are destroyed, neither his body nor his soul is safe from their deadly poison. . . . "Robinson knowledgeably instructs readers in the cultural and political life of a fascinating period in history while entertaining us with a puzzling plot, accessible characters, and the domestic details of their daily lives." --Alfred Hitchcock Mystery magazine
"DELICIOUS . . . Robinson makes history live and breathe again." *The New York Times Book Review The small group gathered at Lord Meren's country house to celebrate his homecoming is soon to become yet smaller. Beautiful Anhai, Meren's cousin-in-law, falls victim to murder--an act of violence as inscrutable as the sphinx. True, she had myriad lovers and a scorpion tongue, but why was her body arranged so meticulously, as if for sleep? The most dreadful possibility is that the crime has to do with Lord Meren's awesome undercover mission for the pharaoh, for which his feast of rejoicing is in part a cover. This mission cannot, must not, fail. Ruthlessly stripping bare the deepest secrets of the nest of cobras who are his nearest relatives, Meren finds the thread that leads to the truth and the unmasking of a shocking crime in the court of the living god. . . . "As Robinson deftly juggles ancient Egyptian political intrigue and a riveting mystery, she proves again her mastery of the historical whodunit." *Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Someone--or something--is slaying innocent persons on the night streets in the royal city of Memphis. Frightened citizens believe it is the gruesome work of the Devourer, the eater of souls, one of the most fearsome gods in the Egyptian pantheon. Even Lord Meren, the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh, is baffled by this series of horrific crimes whose victims have only one thing in common: the grisly manner of their deaths. Is the evildoer truly the Devourer, risen from the netherworld, or just a mere mortal? Between Lord Meren and the truth lie dangerous mysteries--in the city's back alleys and in the bosom of his own noble family. . . .
With the top secret investigation of Queen Nefertiti's murder in full gallop, Lord Meren is suddenly called away to investigate the bizarre death of Pharaoh Tutankhamen's favorite groom.
In the sixth novel of the celebrated series set during the reign of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, Lord Meren recruits a clever female counterpart to help him find Queen Nefertiti’s murderer. Armed with the certainty that Queen Nefertiti did not die of the plague but was murdered with poison, Lord Meren is hot on the trail of her killer. His investigation leads him from the Egyptian countryside to the mysterious tombs of the dead kings, entangling him in a conspiracy so treacherous he fears for his life. Meanwhile, back at the palace, a mourning King Tutankhamen grows more distraught each day the murderer, hidden within a network of subordinates, agents, and slaves, goes uncaptured. Desperate, Meren looks to the one person who can help him bring the assassin to justice, and appease the pharaoh. She is Anath, the fabled Eyes of Babylon, a mistress of secrets with a mind as incisive as Lord Meren’s, who may—or may not—prove trustworthy.