Secrets of the Nile is a blend of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile with a twist.

Lady Emily and Colin have been invited to join Mrs. Hargreaves on a trip to visit a long-time family friend in Luxor. Shortly after everyone has arrived their host is poisoned during dinner. When a servant leaves shortly after the death everyone believes he is the killer, but Lady Emily thinks that is too easy of answer. As Lady Emily starts to investigate it appears that everyone who was invited has a reason to dislike, maybe even want the host dead.

Alexander has a two POV story with one with Lady Emily in 1904 Luxor and the other with Meryt in Ancient Egypt not far from Luxor. There is just a tenuous link between the two story lines and once again I feel like the older story line is not needed and feels like it could be more flushed out. I would almost want Meryt to have her own story since it feels limited here.

Lady Emily and her husband Colin are in Egypt to see the sites, tour ancient tombs and temples and, in the company of Colin’s mother, stay as guests of Lord Deeley. He and Colin’s mother are childhood friends and have stayed close their entire lives, but he has also nursed an unrequited passion for her over the years. That first night, Lord Deeley has prepared a sumptuous feast for his guests. At the end he drinks a specially-prepared tisane, clutches his throat, and succumbs to cyanide poisoning.

This isn’t Lady Emily’s first murder, but it soon seems that almost everyone had a motive. Clues keep popping up. One man’s room contains apricot pits, a known source of cyanide. A letter is found accusing Lord Deeley of destroying another’s political career, while a page torn from Deeley’s journal seems to point the finger at Colin’s mother. With clues aplenty, Lady Emily must keep her focus clear.

Meanwhile, interspersed with the more modern story (1904) is a story of an ancient Egyptian village of creators, and a woman who carves ushabtis, the stone servants who accompany the Pharaohs and nobility to the afterlife. This is a story of familial love, revenge, brutality, and it bears a striking echo to the more modern times.

Secrets of the Nile is an enjoyable book. It’s the first I’ve read of this series, but I found that no hindrance. There are definite echoes of Agatha Christie in the setting and tone, but the author makes the tale all her own. I recommend it.

I’ve read most of the previous books in this series and love Colin and like Emily. This is not one of the strongest books though, I’m sad to say. Didn’t think the dual stories messed well and felt disjointed, Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

An historical mystery set in parallel timelines -- 1904 and ancient Egypt circa 1500 BCE.

Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, are on a holiday to visit Lord Bertram Deeley and visit the ancient tombs and view the treasures of Egypt. Along with other family and friends, they join Lord Bertram at his residence in Luxor after cruising the Nile. On that very eve, after a magnificent meal at his home, Lord Bertram dies of cyanide poisoning. Which of those in attendance could have killed him and why. Everyone is a suspect.

In the alternate story line, a family of artisans tasked with decorating the Pharaoh's tomb experience personal betrayals. Some ancient sculptures belonging now to Lord Bertram prove to be a way to help Lady Emily connect the dots and solve the crime.

Although this is the 16th in a series that I have never read, I thoroughly enjoyed this. I love historical fiction and am particularly partial to ancient times and Egypt. I liked what I learned of the main character, Lady Emily, definitely a forward thinking woman of her time. Now I really want to go back and start this series with all of the previous installments read in order. I like a cozy mystery with period details and descriptions of everything from food to clothes to social mores.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read, review, and recommend this book.

Secrets of the Nile is the 16th Lady Emily cozy mystery by Tasha Alexander. Released 4th Oct 2022 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The author is prolific and adept. She does a more than capable job setting the scene and time period with both the dialogue and by wrapping the fiction skillfully around a framework of actual historical occurrences. The mystery itself is cleverly constructed and full of fair play clues which invite readers to figure out "whodunnit" alongside the story.

There plot is driven on parallel storytelling, with one main subplot set in dynastic ancient Egypt and the other in the "current" timeline (Late Victorian period). The two distinctly different threads didn't mesh particularly well for me, even through the denouement and resolution.

It's partly an homage to Christie, but Ms. Alexander's writing stands perfectly well on its own merits. Heartily recommended to fans of the series; potentially also recommended for fans of the canonical works. Although the setup, mystery, denouement, and resolution are self-contained, there's a significant amount of development in earlier books which will partially spoil the characters and their relationships if read out of order. With 16 books extant in the series, it would make a great choice for a binge read, especially for fans of golden age and historical mysteries.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is the sixteenth volume in the Lady Emily series and I really hope that Tasha Alexander keeps the series going for many more! While this isn't my favorite of the series, the story was enjoyable and the twists fun. I didn't guess the ending, which was fun.

I'm still not enjoying Cat's character and really wish she wasn't included. I do wish we saw more of the boys, as I think they would be fun traveling with Emily and Colin. The secondary story really took you out of the story and was more of a distraction than anything.

Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, are back in yet another compulsively readable historical mystery novel. Set in dual timelines, we follow Lady Emily in 1904 as she and Colin join his mother on a holiday visit Lord Bertram Deely, an old friend and collector of Egyptian antiquities. Their story is mysteriously connected to that of a sculptor named Meryt, who lived in ancient Egypt in the village of Pa Demi, unique in that it is inhabited by artists who work on the elaborate tombs that will house the pharaohs and others in the afterlife.

On the Hargreaves' arrival at Lord Deely's house, the house party is shocked when, at the elaborate dinner provided by their host, Lord Deely suddenly falls dead. In an excellently-crafted closed-room mystery, we follow Lady Emily, Colin, and his daughter Kat as they explore the connections between all the guests and their host in an effort to expose the true killer before an innocent man is convicted instead. But the clues only get more and more confusing and contradictory.

Meanwhile, Meryt and her husband are being terrorized, and the implications reach beyond this life into the next and into the world of the gods. Is it the work of her cruel sister-in-law, Sanura? Or is there something more sinister afoot?

A disclaimer right up front: I love the Lady Emily series. And this done didn't disappoint. Historical mysteries are my favorite genre, and I love how the author frequently includes little nuggets as a nod to the universes of other fictional characters of her fellow authors--in this one, it's the Amelia Peabody series, by Elizabeth Peter. I loved the way the mystery developed and resolved, creating comparisons with Agatha Christie's plots in my mind. My one complaint was that the refrain of "but worse was still to come..." in the ancient Egyptian part of the story got old really quickly, and I felt that it took a weird turn at the end that didn't connect well with the rest of its subplot. But that was a minor element and overall I felt it was an interesting and entertaining read as I have come to expect from Tasha Alexander.

I didn’t realize this was part of an ongoing series until I started reading it. I know it can be read as a stand-alone but I always felt like I was missing out of something while reading. This made it very hard to invest it. The two storylines also made it very confusing. That being said I did enjoy the beautiful descriptions and there were parts that were LOL funny. The ending is what really saved this story, but up until that it was pretty slow moving.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy. My thoughts are my own.

Another book that has a past story as well as a current one. Luckily the chapters have titles so it keeps me from getting confused. I liked the characters and the setting in Egypt.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The latest Lady Emily mystery is an enjoyable addition to the series.

Lady Emily and her husband Colin are traveling up the Nile with Colin's mother, Ann Hargreaves, and his daughter, Kat von Lange. They are part of a larger traveling party, put together by Mrs. Hargreaves' old friend, Lord Deeley. Deeley has invited friends to travel with him on his steamboat on the Nile and then stay in his Luxor home. Emily's party rents their own dahabiya, knowing they want to enjoy more of the scenery than the other members of the party. Therefore, they arrive a few days later than the rest of the guests, and haven't gotten to know them until their first dinner together.

The dinner Lord Deeley serves is decadent, maybe even excessively so. When he drinks his nightly tisane after the meal, he clutches his throat, falls over, and dies. Immediately, every person in the party (as well as the servants) are suspects. Emily, Colin, Kat and Mrs. Hargreaves decide to conduct their own investigation, knowing the Egyptian police tend to want to blame crimes on the servants and take bribes regularly.

Interwoven in the 1904 story is the story of Meryt, who lives in Egypt during the time of pharaohs in the town of Pa Demi. Tasha Alexander uses this literary device in her books to further share the history of the places Lady Emily visits, and how that ancient history is echoed in "current" day issues in Egypt and the relationships between the people in this party.

I always enjoy Alexander's books and liked learning a little bit more about Egypt during the time of the pharaohs. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

Oddly--because I'm a historical fiction/mystery fan and enjoy well researched and written mid 19th through mid-20th century settings -- I never heard of Lady Emily. This is a series I'll dip into more. Secrets of the Nile finds Lady Emily and husband Colin Hargreaves heading to Egypt with Colin's mother and his daughter Kat. It is 1904 and they are guests of Mrs. Hargreaves childhood friend Lord Bertram Deeley. They are in Luxor, near archeological digs. Deeley collects Egyptian antiquities and this book contains two stories: Deeley's and Meryt's. Meryt is a young woman living in the town populated by craftspeople working on Pharaohs' tombs around 1500 BC. Her father is a famous sculptor, her twin brother a painter and she sculpts small figures for the graves that are unique for their individual faces. The stories intertwine beautifully as the 1904 party is disrupted early by a murder and multiple guests have motives. Lady Emily and Colin investigate, with "help" from Kat. This is an entertaining house party mystery, with a few nods to Agatha Christie and Elizabeth Peters but a style and story all its own. The characters are engaging. Definitely a fun read.

I really enjoyed checking in with Lady Emily and exploring Egypt with her. The second storyline set in ancient Egypt was really fascinating! I thought it was a bit of a slow start, but really picked up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

It is 1904 and Lady Emily agrees to accompany her husband, his difficult mother and recently discovered daughter, on a vacation to Luxor, Egypt. Lord Bertram Deeley, an amateur British collector of antiquities, has invited them for a leisurely cruise up the Nile and then a stay at his house. On the first night of their journey, Lord Deeley collapses, presumed dead by cyanide. Presumably the dinner guests are his closest friends, who among them is the killer?

An alternate story emerges of Meryt, a young woman in ancient Egypt who is a master sculptor. Loved by her family and despised by her jealous sister-in-law, Meryt is asked by her father to make his "Ushabtis, an essential part of his funereal equipment, to stand in for him when he is called on to do work in the afterlife. " These three-thousand-year-old figures play a key role in determining Lord Deeley's killer.
Agatha Christie and Amelia Peabody fans will love this latest novel in the Lady Emily series. Rich with the history, sights and sounds of Egypt, I didn't want it to end. Emily and Colin are at their best interviewing the staff, guests, and potential suspects, while trying to have some time to themselves. Alexander is a master storyteller with the humor of Elizabeth Peters and the cunning of Agatha Christie. Historical fiction at its best.

My first physical ARC I ever received was number 14 of this series and I really loved it. Im so happy I have been able to continue on with the series. I was slightly worried that moving out of Italy to Egypt, I wouldn’t be as charmed by the setting and the history, but I was wrong. Like the previous story we get two narratives, one with Lady Emily trying to solve the death of their host in Luxor and the story of a sculpturess whose life is turned upside down when her brother marries.

I really enjoyed both timelines equally, which is so rare but Tasha Alexander has this way of writing compelling characters and complex mysteries that draw you in regardless of the historical setting. I love that we get very era appropriate women and also some who are challenging the mores of the time.

Lots of folks compare Alexander’s books to Christie’s and I totally agree with that. The plots are complex with a lot of quirky characters and yet when the reveal happens it’s infinitely plausible unlike modern day thrillers. Read this one if you like atmospheric, well-paced mysteries.

Thanks to Minotaur Books via Netgalley for access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.

✨Secrets of the Nile by Tasha Alexander✨

Genre: Mystery
Pages: 320
Pub Date: Oct 4, 2022
Series: Lady Emily Ashton Mysteries #16

📚 Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, have joined his formidable mother on a holiday to visit the exotic treasures of Egypt. Their host, Lord Bertram Deeley, is a renowned amateur British collector of antiquities, who has invited his closest friends on a lavish cruise up the Nile to his home at Luxor. But on the first night of their journey, he suddenly collapses after offering a welcome toast, a victim of the lethal poison cyanide. Who amongst this group would want to kill their generous host?

Emily and Colin’s investigation soon reveals that even his closest friends had reasons to want him dead: was it the archeologist whose dig Deeley was poised to fund until he suddenly withdrew support? The powerful politician whose career Deeley had secretly destroyed? The dyspeptic aristocratic English spinster whose hired travelling companion seems determined to protect her employer? Or Mrs. Hargreaves herself, who may have spurned the advances of Lord Deeley when they were both younger?

A key clue may lie with several ancient sculptures that played a role in a hidden story from the time of Ancient Egypt, one of a sister’s unshakeable loyalty to her brother, a tale of betrayal and revenge.

📝 Although this is the latest book in a long-standing series, this can absolutely be read as a stand alone. I didn’t feel like I missed anything except maybe more backstory on Lady Emily and her husband Colin.

This is definitely an homage to Agatha Christie! I did enjoy the atmosphere the story created and it’s Egyptian setting.

The story includes another timeline, set in ancient Luxor. I was very interested in Meryt’s story, but I didn’t really think it had deep ties or relevance to the main mystery.

💫Thank you @minotaur_books for my ARC #gifted 💫

Exotic landscape, colorful characters and clever mystery. Captures 1904 well.
This is the 16th bbok in the series but can be read as a standalone.
I was given this arc in exchange for an honest review.

“Secrets of the Nile” the 16th instalment in the A Lady Emily Mysteries by Tasha Alexander. This is the second book I have read by Tasha Alexander and won’t be my last.

In a brilliant homage to Agatha Christie, critically acclaimed author Tasha Alexander sends Lady Emily to Egypt during British colonial rule to investigate a crime that leads back to the era of the Pharaohs.

I found it to be a quick easy read and finished in two days, I really enjoyed the dual narratives telling us the story of Meryt in ancient Egypt to lady Emily in the early 20th century in the exotic setting of Luxor, Egypt.

The mystery is interesting and well plotted, and I loved the characters of Lady Emily and Colin.
I kept guessing and second-guessing myself on whodunnit right to the very end. I recommend this book to all my mystery lover friends.

I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Minotaur Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Egyptian historical mysteries tend to be great, whether relatively recent or truly ancient…

I’m a huge fan of mysteries set in Egypt, whether they are modern-ish, like Parker Bilal’s Makana books; or somewhat recent historicals, like Michael Pearce’s Mamur Zapt series; or even set in truly ancient times, like Agatha Christie’s Death Comes as the End. And I like Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series too. So, in the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit that I was pre-disposed to enjoy the latest Lady Emily book, Secrets of the Nile, just based on its title, even before I received my review copy. And enjoy it I did…

As in other recent Lady Emily books (see my reviews here and here), Alexander has woven two stories around each other: the first set in the days of the Pharaohs, and the second in the early 1900s. Both feature strong female characters and both stand well on their own. Lady Emily’s mystery feels a lot like a classic Agatha Christie: a group of British expatriates in an elegant house in a remote part of the Levant, an unexplained death, lots of archeological digs, even more clues, and an eventual bring-all-the-suspects-together denouement where Lady Emily comes up with the final explanation. In the ancient tale, on the other hand, we get to know Meryt, who grew up as the daughter of the best painter in the rather well-off village, Pa Demi (modern-day Deir el-Medina), that housed the elite craftsmen who worked on the nearby royal tombs. Meryt was educated alongside her twin brother, and although she initially wanted to be a painter as well, she soon found that sculpture was her real vocation. But something is wrong in Pa Demi, and Meryt, and her husband Kamose, seem to be at the center of it. And we have to wait, not very patiently, until nearly the end, to understand how the two tales finally link together.

I’m typically not much of a fan of the two stories/two timelines approach. IMO, even with a skilled author like Alexander, it’s almost impossible not to feel a little bit “bounced around” when switching from one to the other, and then back again. But I’d take at most half-a-star off for this. And then, for those who, like me, love their Egyptian mysteries, it’s worth noting there are some little Easter Eggs from another well-known Egyptian historical series tucked away to find here and there in this one! So that gives half-a-star back, and I ended up with five stars for Secrets of the Nile. And finally, my thanks to the publisher, Minotaur Books, and to NetGalley for my review copy!

Secrets of the Nile by Tasha Alexander is the latest entry into her lauded Lady Emily series. Lady Emily; her husband, Colin, his daughter, Kat; and his mother, Ann Hargreaves, were in Egypt, ostensibly as guests of Mrs. Hargreave’s friend, Lord Deeley. They had been friends since childhood and Deeley would have been happy to have the relationship move to the next level if she had given him the slightest inclination she felt the same way. She did not. Emily and Colin were here as chaperones, although whom they were chaperoning was in question. Colin and Emily had kept their hired riverboat so they could sleep there and escape the house party guests, at least for the nights. Everything seemed fine until all of a sudden Lord Deeley fell dead at the dinner table. It was poison and so there would now need to be an investigation. Lady Emily found clues in the house implicating several different guests, possibly even the butler. Lady Emily and Colin forged forward with some help from Lady Hargreave and Cat.

It was an enticing mystery told in two timelines: the years 2 and 1904. The two were held together by the thinnest thread, but both were interesting and illuminating. Alexander conjures up excellent characters, starting with Lady Emily and working down to the least important. One could feel the heat of the desert, and feel the gently rocking of the boat. Lord Deeley had had a plan when he invited them all; no one seemed to know what it was and now he was gone. Mrs. Hargreave felt the loss of her friend, and that loss was palpable in the words of the story. Lady Emily’s greatest cover was her gender, as women were still pretty sheltered at this time. It was a well written tome, consistent with the other Lady Emily books. I have some issues with the overall timeline as it doesn’t seem to hang together, but I’m not sure it matters. It was an enticing read. One I enjoyed greatly.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Secrets of the Nile by St. Martin’s Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #TashaAlexander #SecretsOfTheNile

Secrets of the Nile promised to be a better book than it turned out to be. I was rather disappointed with this one, in several areas.

Not one of my favorites by Tasha Alexander.