Lion in the Valley is a historical mystery novel by Elizabeth Peters (penname of Barbara Mertz), first published in 1986. It's the fourth book in the Amelia Peabody series and is set in 1895-96.
Amelia, Radcliffe and their son Ramses return to Egypt for an archaeological dig. But things start to go wrong. An attempted kidnapping and two murders make it look like the expedition is cursed. Amelia soon discovers that a master criminal is behind it, and he has a personal grudge against her.
Contains examples of:
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Amelia and her husband have some interesting conversations. What do you talk about while crawling through the unstable, half-crumbled passages of an un-excavated pyramid, hoping that your 7 year old son is right when he says he knows a way out? The similarities of construction with other 12th Dynasty pyramids, of course!
- Cock Fight: Amelia finds watching her husband Emerson fight the 'Master Criminal' Sethos for her to be quite an 'interesting and stimulating sensation'.
- Cyanide Pill: One of Sethos's men is captured by Amelia, and takes poison (prussic acid) rather than be questioned.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Amelia Peabody Emerson is captured by the Big Bad and required to dress herself in a sexy harem costume. She keeps her long Victorian underwear on though, meaning the effect is not quite as intended. Even so, Emerson's first words to her are "Put some clothes on!"
- Hypocritical Humor: Two-fer Amelia claims to prefer H. Rider Haggard's romances to Ramses' detective novels because the former are "pure fantasy and don't pretend to be anything else" while complaining that the later arrive at their solutions by "wild guesses that turned out to be correct only because of... plot", instead of true reasoning. A few pages later, she says "I knew I was being observed... with the certain instinct described so well by Mr. Haggard". Also note that Amelia's approach to solving mysteries tends to be "intuitive". At least Ms. Peters plays fair, and lets her be wrong sometimes.
- It Makes Sense in Context: Amelia uses the following line to explain why Bastet wasn't hungry — she'd already been fed by the book's villain:Amelia: "Emerson, that villain, that remarkable, clever wretch has seduced our cat!"
- Love Makes You Dumb: When Sethos reveals his adoration for Amelia, he lists all the things he's done throughout the novel in order to try and win her regard. They are, to a one, silly, convoluted or both.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Happens to Ramses, often.
- Oblivious to Love: Amelia spends the entire book completely oblivious to the fact that the 'master criminal' she is tracking down is in love with her. Her husband Emerson, however, is not so clueless, growing incredibly jealous and paranoid as a result, and getting increasingly annoyed at both the criminal and his oblivious wife. Hilarity Ensues.
- Villainous Crush: Late in the book, Amelia finds out that the Master Criminal, aka Sethos, has one of these on her; he's even sent her flowers.
