The Gifts of Mystery: Egyptologist Barbara Mertz

By Barbara Peterson

The Murders of Richard III, first published in 1974, was the first Elizabeth Peters (Egyptologist Barbara Mertz) novel I ever read. I'm not sure when I first read it, probably in 1976, when I was fifteen, and rather than immediately becoming a fan of Elizabeth Peters, I actually became a fan of Richard III.

Who is Richard III, you're asking? Born in 1452, he was the third son of Richard, Duke of York, who wanted to be King of England, and was prepared to wage war against the man currently occupying that throne, Henry VI. As it turned out, Richard died in one of the battles of the Wars of the Roses (Yorkists' symbol was a white rose, Henry's House of Lancaster, a red rose), but his son, Edward, ended up on the throne, as Edward IV.