I was still stunned by her death three years ago when I arrived at Mertz Manor for the funeral. Beth (her daughter), Dominick Abel (her agent and dear friend), and I were sitting at the kitchen table when the topic turned to Barbara’s unfinished manuscript. I will admit my gut froze as I sensed the inevitable question: would I complete The Painted Queen? My first response was an adamant refusal. The idea of attempting to capture her voice, her erudite style, her wit, and her vast knowledge of archaeology in the early twentieth century, seemed ludicrous. I lost that one, obviously.

Barbara and I had discussed the plot in the preceding months, and I’d made suggestions. I was assured that she had made extensive notes and plotted the entire thing. I knew better. Yes, the notes were extensive—to a certain point. Interesting things were happening, and I suspect that she intended to let the plot develop as she wrote. Her illness overcame her.

I kept almost all of Barbara’s prose, although some changes were necessary. Salima Ikram and I brainstormed via Skype to come up with the how, the who, the why. Beth offered comments and referenced earlier novels. Ray Johnson and Dennis Forbes gently corrected my missteps. It took me nearly three years to complete The Painted Queen due to personal health issues, but I am pleased with the result.

All factual and translation errors are Salima’s fault. Or somebody else’s, anyway. Maybe Google’s.

I still miss Barbara.

Introduction

The Trustee of the Barbara Mertz Trust

It is our sad duty to introduce this last of the Amelia Peabody Emerson volumes. The devoted Editor of Mrs. Emerson’s memoirs, Elizabeth Peters, died in August of 2013 while in the midst of working on the manuscript of The Painted Queen. She had contemplated this project with excitement, knowing that publishing Mrs. Emerson’s recollections from that time would shed new light on a famous moment in the history of Egyptology. With her usual thoroughness, Ms. Peters had begun research on many aspects of the event in question, hoping to clarify some of the more difficult-to-decipher entries in Mrs. Emerson’s journals. It bears noting that Ms. Peters had made the effort of writing out the final page of The Painted Queen before she died, a page that is reproduced herein verbatim. Happily, as she worked on this last manuscript, Ms. Peters was in constant conversation with her dear friend and fellow mystery writer, Joan Hess, who valiantly took on the very difficult task of completing the work. Ms. Hess sought the help of another close friend of Ms. Peters, the distinguished archaeologist Dr. Salima Ikram, in working through the nitty-gritty of the Egyptological details. Dennis Forbes, editor of Kmt, and Dr. Raymond Johnson read the penultimate draft and offered suggestions as well.