Why I love Elizabeth Peters

I discovered Borrower of the Night when I was around fifteen years old. It’s a mystery novel about art historian Vicky Bliss, a young professor who’s tired of not getting taken seriously and sets off from her American university to a haunted German castle to solve a historical mystery. It’s a treasure hunt, an adventure, a Gothic ghost story, and a mystery, all steeped in history and written with a strong voice with plenty of humor.

Borrower of the Night is the first Vicky Bliss mystery by Elizabeth Peters. It doesn’t take itself seriously, but is a fun romp filled with all the elements I wanted. Well, maybe not quite all. It wasn’t until the second book in the series that Vicky met charming art thief John Smyth, her love interest, adding romance to the long list of elements Peters wrote brilliantly.

Elizabeth Peters quickly become my favorite author. I had an opportunity to meet her once, shortly before she passed away ten years ago. That was right before my own debut novel came out, so she signed my beaten-up copy of Borrower of the Night and congratulated me on my novel, which I told her had been inspired by her books. That encounter was a dream come true, and so was last weekend, when her legacy was honored by Malice Domestic, the traditional mystery convention. I helped plan some of the events to honor her memory, which I wrote about here.

Because I want to help readers discover her marvelous books, I’d also like to take a step back and explain more about who Elizabeth Peters was and what she wrote.

Elizabeth Peters was the pen name of Egyptologist Barbara Mertz. She began her fiction career writing Gothic novels under the name Barbara Michaels, before she devoted herself to traditional mysteries as Elizabeth Peters. She wrote many stand-alone novels, but her three long-running series featured Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, art historian Vicky Bliss, and librarian-turned-romance-writer Jacqueline Kirby. Her fiction career spanned five decades. She was also involved in founding Malice Domestic, the convention that gave me my start as a writer.

From my conversations with fellow authors, as well as reading widely, I’m convinced that she inspired a generation of mystery writers. Mystery novelists including Deanna Raybourn, Tasha Alexander, Juliet Blackwell, Dorothy St. James, Colleen Cambridge, Amanda Flower, Kelly Oliver, and L.A. Chandlar, credit Elizabeth Peters with being an inspiration for their own books. I doubt I would have been inspired to write Artifact, my first Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery, if it hadn’t been for Vicky Bliss. I wanted to put my own spin on those books filled with mystery, adventure, romance, history, and humor, so I created Indian-American historian Jaya Jones. In each book, Jaya uses her expertise on India’s colonial history to find long-lost treasures, setting off to different foreign destinations on lighthearted romps and solving fair-play mysteries.

The first edition of my debut novel, ARTIFACT, published shortly after Elizabeth Peters signed my beaten-up copy of BORROWER OF THE NIGHT and congratulated me on the book at Malice Domestic in 2012.

Snippets from my Elizabeth Peters bookshelf.

Not sure where to start with her books? Below you’ll find a selected list of her books—the novels she wrote in the Vicky Bliss, Amelia Peabody, and Jacqueline Kirby series.

If you like historical mysteries, I recommend starting with the first Amelia Peabody mystery, Crocodile on the Sandbank. If you like art history with romance and adventure, begin with the first Vicky Bliss mystery, Borrower of the Night, or the second, Street of Five Moons. And if you’re in the mood for an acerbic librarian, pick up any of the Jacqueline Kirby novels (The Murders of Richard III is my favorite).

LIST OF ELIZABETH PETERS’ SERIES MYStERIES

Vicky Bliss

Art history mysteries set different foreign destinations across Europe, plus one set in Egypt.

  1. Borrower of the Night (1973)

  2. Street of the Five Moons (1978)

  3. Silhouette in Scarlet (1983)

  4. Trojan Gold (1987)

  5. Night Train to Memphis (1994)

  6. The Laughter of Dead Kings (2008)

Amelia Peabody

Historical mysteries set in Egypt and England, 1884 - 1913.

  1. Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975)

  2. The Curse of the Pharaohs (1981)

  3. The Mummy Case (1985)

  4. Lion in the Valley (1986)

  5. The Deeds of the Disturber (1988)

  6. The Last Camel Died at Noon (1991)

  7. The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog (1992)

  8. The Hippopotamus Pool (1996)

  9. Seeing a Large Cat (1997)

  10. The Ape Who Guards the Balance (1998)

  11. The Falcon at the Portal (1999)

  12. He Shall Thunder in the Sky (2000)

  13. Lord of the Silent (2001)

  14. The Golden One (2002)

  15. Children of the Storm (2003)

  16. Guardian of the Horizon (2004)

  17. The Serpent on the Crown (2005)

  18. Tomb of the Golden Bird (2006)

  19. A River in the Sky (2010)

  20. The Painted Queen (2017, completed by Joan Hess, as Barbara Mertz passed away in 2013)

Jacqueline Kirby

Librarian-turned-romance-novelist having a delightfully good time solving crimes.

  1. The Seventh Sinner (1972)

  2. The Murders of Richard III (1974)

  3. Die for Love (1984)

  4. Naked Once More (1989)

If you enjoy my books, I definitely think you’ll love hers. I hope you’ll have fun with her books!

Meeting Elizabeth Peters in 2012. I’d just completed cancer treatments, so I’m in my chemo wig that my writers group picked out for me!

The book where my love for Elizabeth Peters began. The cover has been updated many times over the years since its first publication in 1973, and this one is a mass market paperback from 1990.

Read more about Malice Domestic honoring the memory of Elizabeth Peters.