Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels are pennames of Barbara Mertz (http://www.mpmbooks.com/) who writes mysteries with gothic, romance, adventure, humor, and occasionally supernatural elements. She has become very well known for the Amelia Peabody series, featuring a Victorian-era female Egyptologist and her eventual family.

Her strong-willed female protagonists have been a key driver of her popularity. While most of her books feature a romance angle, her protagonists are notably not romantic: Jacqueline Kirby and Vicky Bliss are single career-women who enjoy being single with multiple lovers. Amelia Peabody was an independent spinster and suffragette similarly interested in her own academic career.

Most of her works under the Elizabeth Peters name are realistic, although The Dead Sea Cipher (1970), Devil-May-Care (1977), and The Love Talker (1980), are SFnal in scope (respectively, Jesus, hauntings, and a fairy-centered mystery involving SF art). Most of the works written under the Barbara Michaels name are gothic in style, many with supernatural elements.

Names

• Barbara Mertz - legal name; writes nonfiction Egyptology books
• Barbara Michaels - pen name for gothic romances
• Elizabeth Peters - pen name for mysteries and romantic mysteries

Works

SFnal works

• The Dead Sea Cipher (1970) (alternative Christianity)
• Devil-May-Care (1977) (possible haunting)
• The Love Talker (1980) (a fairy-related mystery, with SF art playing a role; also significantly featuring fairy tales, and Christina Rossetti's poem, "Goblin Market")

• many of the Barbara Michaels works

Amelia Peabody series

Historical mystery romance featuring a Victorian/Edwardian era female Egyptologist. Written under penname Elizabeth Peters. Set in historical era but in same fictional universe as Vicky Bliss stories.

• Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975) [1884-85]
• Curse of the Pharaohs (1981) [1892-93]
• The Mummy Case (1985) [1894-95]
• Lion in the Valley (1986) [1895-96]
• Deeds of the Disturber (1988) [Summer 1896]
• The Last Camel Died at Noon (1991) [1897-98]
• The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog (1992) [1898-99]
• The Hippopotamus Pool (1996) [1899-1900]
• Seeing a Large Cat (1997) [1903-04]
• The Ape Who Guards the Balance (1998) [1906-07]
• The Falcon at the Portal (1999) [1911-12]
• He Shall Thunder in the Sky (2000) [1914-15]
• Lord of the Silent (2001) [1915-16]
• The Golden One (2002) [1916-17]
• Children of the Storm (2003) [1919-20]
• Guardian of the Horizon (2004) [1922-23]
• The Serpent on the Crown (2005) [1922-23]
• Tomb of the Golden Bird (2006)
• A River in the Sky (2010)

• Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium (2003)

Vicky Bliss series

Romantic mysteries featuring an American art historian. Written under Elizabeth Peters name. Set in contemporary time but in same fictional universe as the Amelia Peabody series.

1. Borrower of the Night (1973)
2. Street of the Five Moons (1978)
3. Silhouette in Scarlet (1983)
4. Trojan Gold (1987)
5. Night Train to Memphis (1994)
6. Laughter of Dead Kings (2008)

Related characters

• The Camelot Caper (1969) (introduced John Smythe / John Tregarth, a regular in the Vicky Bliss series; could be considered a prequel)
• Amelia Peabody series - it's later revealed that there is a connection between the Peabody's and John Smythe

Jacqueline Kirby series

A series of mysteries featuring librarian Jacqueline Kirby, written under Elizabeth Peters name.

• The Seventh Sinner (1972)
• Murders of Richard III (1974)
• Die for Love (1984)
• Naked Once More (1989)

Non-series Elizabeth Peters

• The Jackal's Head (1968)
• The Dead Sea Cipher (1970)
• The Night of Four Hundred Rabbits (1971)
• Legend in Green Velvet (1976)
• Devil-May-Care (1977)
• Summer of the Dragon (1979)
• The Love Talker (1980)
• The Copenhagen Connection (1982)

Barbara Michaels

• The Master of Blacktower (1966; her first published novel)
• Sons of the Wolf (1967)
• Prince of Darkness (1969)
• The Dark on the Other Side (1970)
• The Crying Child (1971)
• Greygallows (1972)
• Witch (1973)
• House of Many Shadows (1974)
• The Sea King's Daughter (1975)
• Patriot's Dream (1976)
• Wings of the Falcon (1977)
• Wait for What Will Come (1978)
• The Walker in Shadows (1979)
• The Wizard's Daughter (1980)
• Here I Stay (1983)
• The Grey Beginning (1984)
• Be Buried in the Rain (1985)
• Search the Shadows (1987)
• Smoke and Mirrors (1989)
• Into the Darkness (1990)
• Vanish with the Rose (1992)
• Houses of Stone (1993)
• The Dancing Floor (1997)
• Other Worlds (1999)

Someone in the House

• Black Rainbow (1982; prequel to Someone in the House)
• Someone in the House (1981)

Ammie Come Home

• Ammie Come Home (1968)
• Shattered Silk (1986)
• Stitches in Time (1995)

Nonfiction as Barbara Mertz

• Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs
• Red Land, Black Land