The Poisoner of Ptah
Our book club's book for February was THE POISONER OF PTAH, by P.C. Doherty. We chose this one because we have been wanting to read a historical mystery to take us away from the cold and misery of winter. A lot of good suggestions came up, but we decided to focus on ancient Egypt. We had read another Egyptian book last year (One of the Mamur Zapt titles) and we were very disappointed in that one, so we figured we should not give up on Egypt just because that book was not what we had hoped for.
By process of elimination, we arrived at this one, and we were glad we did.
At the signing of a peace treaty between Egypt and Libya, three people die violently as the result of a poisoning of their wine bowl. The murderer is suspected to be the notorious Poisoner of Ptah, who had been arrested and sent to a desert prison camp several years ago--but who, it turns out, has escaped and made his way back to Cairo to try to clear his good name. Our chief investigator is Amerotke, who is "Chief Judge of Egypt" and also detective. While we watch Amerotke unravel the case, we also learn a good deal about the politics of the time (with Egypt pretty much loathed by all its neighbors, who are envious of its wealth and status), as well as the personalities of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (called here "Hatusu" and her working-class lover, Senenmut. If these names sound slightly confusing, don't worry--you are not alone, which the author must have realized, because he very cleverly included a list of characters' names at the beginning of the book, and it is very helpful for about the first half.
That is a small complaint, however, as we really did enjoy this book. It was perhaps a bit slow to start, but the way Doherty evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of ancient Egypt is remarkable. Doherty also manages to juggle many strands of courtly intrigue with politics and the sort of "locked room" murder investigation, all while keeping the book moving at a nice clip. We quite liked Amerotke, who is a kind-hearted family man with a nice wife and two kids, and found him warm and smart. Perhaps we would have liked a bit deeper characterization of him, but this didn't interfere with our enjoyment of the book. We also found the character of the poisoner to be quite effectively drawn and enigmatic.
The working out of the mystery is a little less satisfying than the rest of the book--though it has been properly prepared for. We speculated that when a book is as rich a pageant as THE POISIONER OF PTAH, the resolution of the mystery is going to seem small in comparison.
Overall, we enjoyed the book, which we found to appeal to both the women and the men in our group, and we thought we would like to read more in the future. To be honest, I had not heard of P.C. Doherty before, but it turns out he is a very prolific writer who uses several pseudonyms, including Paul Doherty (these books take place in medieval times). I definitely will read more of him, as I felt the book was very absorbing, and several of our other members felt the same way.
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