I wish I'd read the earlier books in this series because I know I missed a lot and it's got a lively protagonist in Dr. Elizabeth Simms. Liked the setting in Egypt and the atmospherics. The mystery was just twisty enough.

Good thriller/crime set in Egypt, full of mystery and who done it. loved how it flicked from present day to that in ancient Egypt.

This is a book of luxuriousness. I loved it! It is a quick read but it doesn't skimp on detail. anyone who loves Egypt, mystery, and adventure will love this book!

This is the first of the Dr. Pimms series I've read, which probably accounts for my lower rating. I felt like there was too much backstory that I didn't understand. Much was revealed slowly, but even by the end of the book, I felt like there were gaps in my knowledge. Readers need to start this series at the beginning. The descriptions of trying to solve the archeological mystery, as well as the secondary story unfolding in ancient Egypt, were fascinating. And there are hints to a continuing modern mystery. Overall, recommended.

The Egyptian mystery appealed to me most in this episode in the life of Dr Pimms. This then would appear to be the back drop of Egyptian Enigma, the curious remains of an Egyptian Prince of the Golden Tomb, which finds Elizabeth and her group of friends doing their own investigations in an attempt to solve the mystery, whilst preparing her papers on her Olmec and Mayan investigations.


Mongolian Mayhem is believed to be the next book in the series - I would be very interested to see how the next six books pan out, and if Elizabeth manages to grow up!.

The Eqyptian Enigma is reviewed in the November 2018 issue of Gumshoe Review and is exclusive to them until December 1st, 2018.
Overall impression:
There's a lot of technical data about Egypt, mummies, and forensic archaeology, as well as historical Egypt. I loved it, although I understand others might not have the same interest in the procedural and scientific emphasis that makes up a large part of the story. But it all works together to make a very enjoyable read.

This book is a part of a series about the adventures of Dr.Pimms, an archeologist brimming with love for Egypt and all things Egyptian.. she is a part time librarian and tutor and this book takes us through her study of the golden tomb.
She pursues the golden tomb and is determined to find out who the occupants of it were with a group of her friends. .
.
The book is set in Australia and alternates between the present day investigation, her life and goes back in the time that she is researching.. the book is engaging as it is rich with facts about Egypt and the ones who once ruled it.... It talks about different Pharoahs and rulers and various theories associated with them. It takes us through different methods in which the mummies are studied! While I was extremely confused with the personal life of Dr.Pimms, I assume it is is because I am reading a book in the middle of a series.. there are events and people in her family who I don't understand how she is related to and what their background really is! They somehow seemed misplaced and irrelevant to me. I love books that integrate the story of the book with the personal life of the protagonist, but this felt a bit disconnected.
I really loved the message that the book tried to convey about the brilliant women rulers who are lost in the male dominated historic documentation.
I really would love to read more of the Dr.Pimms adventures as it made me feel like I was reading famous five, or even an Agatha Christie novel!
Overall, an engaging and informative read for those who love reading about history but find non fiction boring! A special shout-out to the author, @ljmowen for all the research that's gone into the book.

I don't love giving reviews when I don't thoroughly love a book, but there is enough here that is good to mean I can push forward - it's fully detailed, and the central character is appealing if a bit unrealistic - traveling with a man not her lover seems odd, but in some ways it was reassuring since , as she comments, street males in egypt might be rough on a single woman.
When they leave Cairo and return to a messy family and a job that needs revamping, i admit to getting bogged down - the long-distance research - totally expert and authoritative (or so it felt) I just did not care enough. And i also admit that the egyptian story of ancient times (the bodies of the tomb that has been raided, as it were, years ago when the bodies were spread around) did not grab me - all the names were so tough, i could not remember who was who. The dialogue replicates an ancient feel which is weird since it's in english. (But that's inevitable) ... it's curious. And the very person she's had a tantalising letter from just at the end shows up in a shocking way - unusual device to have a cliffhanger at the end of a novel - means we must get the next. Again, curious. This feels like it's part of a longer novel sliced in half. Frustrating on several levels then.

To be honest, I requested Egyptian Enigma from NetGalley on a whim. I like mysteries and I like Ancient Egypt, so this sounded interested. I guess I was thinking I'd be getting something like the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters (who is much missed).

I did not get what I was expecting, although that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I also didn't realize that this was the third book in a series, but while it clearly builds on previous books, it does a good job of establishing the characters and their backgrounds.

The book starts off with Elizabeth Pimms and her net friend (but not lover, despite my expectations) Henry vacationing in Egypt. Elizabeth is an archaeologist and librarian whose career got side-tracked by her father's death (presumably in book one). They have a great trip, other than an incident with a thief breaking into Elizabeth's hotel room to steal... a journal?

From that opening, Elizabeth returns home to Australia where she works in a library, is revising academic papers based on her first two mysteries, and is running a tutoring session at the university. She's dealing with getting her archaeology career back on track, and dealing with a crazy family that includes a Welsh grandfather, a French grandmere, and a Chinese grandmother, as well as a recently discovered illegitimate half-sister who is still adjusting to the family.

Having been fascinated by an exhibit on The Golden Tomb in Egypt, she gets together with friends (Rhoz, Nathan, Llew, and Henry via Skype) to see if they can't figure out whose tomb it is. The surprising method used involves 3D printing of the scans of skeletons for all of the mummies found in the tomb, and using physical commonalities to try to pin the relationship between the mummies, and to other known mummies, looking for familial traits, as well as to figure out who was the right size to be in the sarcophagus.

Between scientific investigations and family drama, there is also historical chapters, actually detailing who the people in the tomb are, and how they ended up there.

My only big objection to the book was that it ended on a cliffhanger that was so abrupt that I thought maybe my copy was missing a couple of chapters, but a quick check finds other people commenting on the cliffhanger as well.

Still, it was good enough that I have bought the first book, and I definitely plan to buy the fourth book when it comes out to find out why a body was found in the library with the journal that was stolen in Egypt. A solid, and fun, read.

The premise of this book seems fascinating, however, when I chose it I was unaware that it was the third book in a series. If I can get my hands on the first two I would love to go back and read them so that I can read this title, Egyptian Enigma, so that it makes sense. In that light I feel that it would be unfair of me to give it a true rating. The story seemed like it would be amazing, and I do love Egypt, but I didn't have enough of a grasp of the characters and overarcing plot to be able to give an honest review of the complete work.

This one wasn't for me. Too many poorly written narratives trying to make a story, it just didn't work.

A nice mystery that goes deep into Egypt mixing the ancient world and the modern times perfectly!

Among the treasures of the Cairo museum, Dr Elizabeth Pimms, archaeology fan and unenthusiastic librarian recently returned to Egypt, makes a discovery. Cryptic symbols on the corner of a papyrus lead to the discovery of several unidentified mummies. How are the bodies connected to the female pharaoh and last ruler of Egypt’s nineteenth dynasty, Twosret? How did they end up scattered around the world? Between cannibals, attacks to her family, grave robbers and ancient murders, can Elizabeth solve the mystery before the mystery solves her permanently?

Even though Egyptian Enigma by L.J.M. Owen is the third in the Dr Pimms Intermillenial Sleuth series, I wasn’t disappointed at all. From the beginning, the title picked my attention and I’m glad I took a chance with it. Even though I didn’t read the previous instalments, I didn’t feel lost with the story and its characters even when the novel jumps from one timeline to another.

A great cosy-mystery involves around Egypt and the complex family trees of 19th and 20th dynasties. One would think that it will be a very boring, historical class, but you are mistaken. Owen does an amazing work in presenting the most complicated historical facts and events in very simple and easy-to-understand way that not only keeps you interested but hungry to know what follows. The amount of research done by the author is incredible and the introduction of that information is done so smoothly that you might think it’s fantasy. Additionally, Owen finds the perfect balance between ancient and modern times, which gives a vintage touch to our technological era. The pace of the story grows steady and by the time you reach the middle of the story, you’re racing to find the solution to the mystery.

The descriptions are full of colour and they contain enough detail to give the reader a simple picture of the surroundings. The chapters where the Egyptian family trees are explained blow me away. I didn’t get lost in the explanations and the simple language makes it easy to remember long after I finished the novel. It motivated me to research more about Egypt and go in-depth into the complicated family histories and their gods.

The main character Elizabeth is a machine. She works at the library, tutors archaeology students, she needs to get her papers on Mayan and Olmec ready to be published and a recently discovered older sister completely turns her family situation upside down. The passion she shows for her project and the approach she takes with her team to solve the mystery is different and refreshing. As she tries to deal with her personal life problems, she always manages to give herself completely to her work. I have to admit though, I could vividly imagine her library, and I wished several times to switches places with her.

In general, it was a pleasant novel that I recommend to the fans of ancient mysteries and Egyptian culture!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher Bonnier Publishing Australia and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.

Although it is apparent the author has done some fascinating research on Egyptian history, the plot and main characters leave much to be desired--the writing seems more reminiscent of young adult literature than that for adult mystery readers.

Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This is the first in this series that I have read. It got super science-y, which isn't really my thing. I thought there would more archeological adventure. Instead most of the mystery focused in the household of the main character. I was a bit lost when the whole family was introduced, and there were a lot of secondary characters that seemed to get introduced quickly. The MC was intriguing, but I never got emotionally invested in her mystery (at least until it brought danger to her door). As the action ramped up at the end, the book became more interesting, and the scenes from the past were especially intriguing. I would've loved a whole book on the historical portion of the book.

Any kind of history is my jam and when I saw what the Egyptian Enigma was about, I jumped at the chance to read it. I know very little about ancient Egyptian history and was excited to learn more through this fictional story. Egyptian Enigma by L.J.M Owen is the third in the Dr. Pimms, Intermillenial Sleuth series, so I was coming into the series a little blind but there weren't many spots where I was confused due to not having read the first two books. Let's get to the review!

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Dr. Elizabeth Pimms, enthusiastic archaeologist and reluctant librarian, has returned to Egypt.

Among the treasures of the Cairo museum, she spies cryptic symbols in the corner of an ancient papyrus. Decoding them leads Elizabeth and her newly formed gang of Sleuthers to a tomb of mummies whose identities must be uncovered.

What is the connection between the mummies and Twosret, female Pharaoh and last ruler of Egypt's nineteenth dynasty? How did their bodies end up scattered across the globe? And is the investigation related to the attacks on Elizabeth's family and friends back in Australia?

Between grave robbers, cannibals, misogynist historians and jealous Pharaohs, can Dr. Pimms solve her latest archaeological mystery?

Dr. Elizabeth Pimms immediately reminded me of Indiana Jones, but if Indiana Jones actually did research and work besides being chased by huge stone balls, falling in snake pits, and fighting Nazis. We first meet her in Egypt with her friend and colleague, Henry. They go to see and experience the Pyramids and other historical sites in the country. And everything seems to be going smoothly until Elizabeth goes back to her hotel room to find someone has broken in and, after fighting with this person, they end up taking her journal. But as Henry and she prepare to go home, she puts it to the back of her mind and just figures it was a fluke. She can get another journal

Elizabeth goes back to Australia and as she begins her work as a tutor, she also begins work with a few of her colleagues (Henry included) to try and figure out who was buried in what is known as the Golden Tomb. They get scans from different museums of the bones and recreate them with a 3D printer. They then go on to examine the bones to figure out who they think they belong to from history.

But not everything goes as planned. They choose to do their research in Elizabeth's grandfather's library, but one night Elizabeth wakes up, only to see a light on in the library. When she opens the door, she finds a man standing over her grandfather and he is badly beaten. After getting the man out of the house, she calls for an ambulance and gets her grandfather to the hospital. Once her grandfather is feeling better, she asks him who the man was and what he would have wanted to steal, but her grandfather refuses to tell her, making Elizabeth worry more than she already was. But with nothing more to do, they continue to research and inspect the faux bones until they come to a final conclusion. NO SPOILERS!

In between the chapters about Elizabeth, her family, and her findings, are little moments about the life of Taurset, the  Chief Royal Great Wife of Pharaoh Seti the Second. Her life is full of scandal, intrigue, survival, and death, and gives context to what Elizabeth is finding out in present day.

Now that you have some context, I'll let you know that I did not love this book. The pacing is quite slow and definitely drags in certain places. The story also suffers from showing every scene chronologically. Like even scenes where not much happens are written out when they could have easily been skipped over. There was also a good amount of telling in the book. Simply describing the procedure of looking at bones and stating how tall the person was and how they died does not make for an interesting read. And while there are some interesting points in the book (the break-in in the library, the mystery of a note Elizabeth gets from another colleague, and the issues with her sister, Mai), most of the book was sadly boring and a little tough to get through to be honest. I had so much hope for this book and it, unfortunately, didn't meet those expectations.

One part I did love about Egyptian Enigma is how much rape culture is pointed out throughout the story. Whether it's in Egypt, or in a coffee shop on campus, or in a classroom, the author pulls no punches in punishing the men who treat the women in the story badly. It was honestly refreshing to see it shown so blatantly as well as there being justice for the victims of it.

I am giving Egyptian Enigma by L.J.M. Owen 3 out of 5 stars. Whether you like this story or not is decided by what you look for when reading a book and how that translates to these pages.

Egyptian Enigma comes out October 1, 2018.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bonnier Publishing Australia for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the third in the series Dr. Pimms, Intermillennial Sleuth. These mysteries are great for readers that like history included in the story. The main character has a very unusual family that keeps the story interesting.

While not what I was expecting, this turned out to be an interesting read. This is my first time reading anything by this author, so I have not read the first two in this series, but found that I was still about to keep up with the story.

Thank-you to NetGalley, Bonnier Publishing Australia, and the author for providing a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is book three, and the latest release, in the “Dr Pimms, Intermillennial Sleuth” series. I read book one in this series in preparation for reading and reviewing this newest release for NetGalley. I don’t feel like a missed a whole lot of the ongoing plot by skipping book two in the series. In fact, this book could be read as a standalone as the characters and some of the backstory are re-introduced in this book.

Dr Elizabeth Pimms finally gets to return to her beloved Egypt, even if it is only for a vacation. Elizabeth has a doctorate in Archeology but is currently working as a librarian at a large state run (or university) library in Canberra, Australia. Elizabeth is working in her native Australia and living with her extended family there in order to help support the family after the untimely death of her father a couple of years ago. She is also working as a tutor in the Archeology Department at the university as a means to keep her hand involved in something related to her field of expertise.

Elizabeth and her friend Henry, whom she was travelling with, visit a museum while in Cairo, Egypt. While there, Elizabeth closely studied the artifacts from the ‘Golden Tomb’. After she returns from Egypt, she pulls a team of friends together who have worked on past research efforts with her. With their help, she would like to try to figure out who the unidentified Pharaoh was who was buried in the tomb.

Using historical records, scans, and x-rays, Elizabeth’s friend Amy was able to use the university 3-D printer and print the skeletons of the eleven mummies found in the tomb. It was actually pretty interesting to think about using a 3D printer to get a closer look at a skeleton that actually is still wrapped as a mummy in a museum across the world.

There is an alternating story that tells the mummy’s stories from the point of view of one of the mummies found in the tomb. It was interesting to get a glimpse into a slice of ancient Egypt. It was heartening to see that women had a prominent place in that society, and that they were often Pharaoh’s in their own right. But as some of the scenes described, it could be a dangerous and violent place to live.

I enjoyed learning more about Egypt, and watching the team uncover more and more details about each individual mummy found in the tomb. As with the other books, a fair bit of the plot spent with Elizabeth’s quirky family and their unconventional household. By piecing the ancient Egypt story with the contemporary research project, the reader finds out who the mummies are. I was glad to have that story wrapped up.

I could have done with a little less about the everyday goings on in the family and at the library. I didn’t really think that the storyline about Elizabeth’s travails as a tutor added much to the story. I would have preferred more time devoted to the ancient Egypt story, and less time on the contemporary storylines.

I’m giving this book 3 stars.

I rate this a 3.5. I was unfamiliar with author and this series, but I did enjoy getting to know the characters and I love reading about Ancient Egypt. I don’t usually read series books out of order, but I liked this one enough to go back and read the first two.

My Thoughts

I was looking forward to this one, as I love all things to do with Ancient Egypt. However I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed with this book. Thinking I would be on some fabulous journey down the Nile, only the first initial chapter was in Egypt (and that had little to do with the story in general), everything else was discussions around 3D printed mummies. Sadly I have to admit to very quickly losing interest.

Not having read the previous two books in the series, I was informed this would not really be an issue as each was pretty much a standalone and it would be easy to follow. I beg to differ. I was totally lost on family dynamics, underlying familial themes and outside friendship connections. Therefore I found the characters difficult to relate to. I did enjoy the obtuse references to all things to do with Canberra but found the detailed food references rather perplexing.

What I did enjoy - and fervently wished there was more of - were the chapters set in Ancient Egypt. More time spent here would really have added to the story. Following Tausret was very interesting and I would loved to have read more about her. Unfortunately, the present day group of friends sitting around measuring, examining and discussing 3D mummies in an attempt to unravel an ancient mystery was boring, and this sadly takes up the majority of the book. On too many occasions it felt like a huge information dump, ‘Why don’t we walk through it step by step?’ with everything neatly and rather coldly presented and all rather ending up artificial. If I had to, ‘walk through the same basic analysis’ one more time, or read, ‘Can we see that in his teeth?’, ‘What are his teeth like?’ I may just scream.

The story had an unsatisfactory ending and overall was just too academic in terms of forensic science info dumps, there was just not enough pertinent story involving a mystery in Egypt. I do not deny the great amount of research undertaken but just wish there was more from Tausret the final Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty, rather than present day musings.

‘Elizabeth shared the group’s frustration but tried to remain positive. So far, apart from being able to list various metrics about the mummies, they hadn’t really discovered anything to help them identify the people buried in the Golden Tomb.’