A honeymoon with a teenage daughter and her friend along.

New husband Peter Rosen is doing hush-hush investigation for one of the US agencies. Claire and the girls are his cover. Claire has promised not to ask but she can’t turn off her observations.

Enjoyable read with lots of background info on Egypt and the Valley of the Kings. ( )

Ditto about a book to read while convalescing. I've only read a couple in this series but I will read more--they're humorous, entertaining and a quick read. ( )

Claire Malloy sets out to celebrate her honeymoon in Egypt, with her daughter Caron (that name stumbles my brain every time I see it, I finally settled on pronouncing it like 'Leslie Caron') and the daughter's friend Inez. Where is her husband? Off doing spy things for the most part, although he makes an appearance a couple of times. Soon they fall into the clutches of the International community of busy-bodies at the hotel and something's not right.

The lead character was conflicted. One moment she is a bottle of overreaction and whining, the next she is supposed to be this great amatuer slueth. I don't see it. It seemed at the end that suddenly she pulled her head out of her self-absorption and came up with the answers to everything. She is supposed to be a plucky adventurous woman, but complains about sand, walking and everything else. When she goes on a mission, she leaves her children in a foreign land, doesn't tell anyone, and puts her life in danger with an unknown stranger. That isn't plucky, that's stupid. If she were killed, what might happen to her daughter and friend, left behind sleeping in a place where murders have been taking place? Also, doing something foolish annoys me. Especially if you know others will have to put their lives at risk to save you if things go wrong. That's why we have professionals, which her husband is. For most of the book, any clues handed to her were soundly mocked and refuted.

There was another side of her which I could have gotten behind wholeheartedly. A wisecracking woman who can see through the facades people put on. A mother who overlooks her teenager's drama and gets to the heart of the matter. A woman trying to enjoy peace and quiet and her honeymoon, only to be imposed upon in every conceivable way by overbearing and over-the-top strangers. That part was funny, although painful for this introvert to read.

I did not enjoy all the complaining in the book. Every character seemed to be miserable, spoiled and ungrateful to be in a place I can only dream about exploring. I get that there are travel discomforts, but it would have been nice to have one or two characters who appreciated the place they were in. I suppose Inez, the friend of the daughter did, but she was mocked and shamed for it.

I might try one more of this author's books, because of the good things I found, but if the tone of whining and foolishness is present again, I won't read more. ( )

Claire has married her cop boyfriend, Peter Rosen, and they are ostensibly on their honeymoon in Luxor, Egypt, accompanied by Claire's daughter, Caron, and Caron's best friend, Inez. Peter, however, is often called away on mysterious meetings with Egyptian police, and Claire and the girls are left to their own devices. Odd things start happening: the girls claim they're being followed by a sinister Arab with a scar, a young American woman is kidnapped in the desert, and an archeological expedition is completely upset by mishaps. Hess concludes the story in a manner that shows she is the queen. She even lists Amelia Peabody as one of her characters. She is an excellent author. ( )

A little slow for a Malloy, but still fun. ( )