Well, That Didn't Take Long . . .

But at least Days 3 and 4 of the 30 Day Book Challenge go right together so being behind isn't the worst thing in the world :)

Day 3: Your Favorite  Series

Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters

Seriously, there are dozens of series I could answer. I love series! I love following characters who grow and change and whose lives influence the plot of any given book. Of course, I am a mystery devotee, and mysteries thrive with series characters.

But I'm going to have to go with Peters' series set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the adventures of a family of British Egyptologists. From Radcliffe Emerson and Amelia Peabody meeting at Amarna to the travails of raising a precocious son to the dangers of spying during WWI to reckless young love to the treasures of Egypt . . . I love these books. Forever and ever. My teen daughter just finished the first, CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK, and I can't wait for her to go on so we can discuss Ramses and Nefret and dahabeyahs on the Nile. If you like well-plotted mysteries, wonderfully evocative settings, and characters who make you laugh and cry, make a dash for Peters' books.

Day 4: Your Favorite Book in the Series

I'm not even going to beg pardon for choosing two, for even Peters' acknowledged that this was one very long and complicated story that, for publishing's necessity, had to be broken into two novels: THE FALCON AT THE PORTAL and HE SHALL THUNDER IN THE SKY. 

There is always lots of Amelia and Emerson in the novels, but these two focus more on their son, Ramses, and the outbreak of war in Europe and their African and mid-Eastern protectorates. I threw FALCON AT THE PORTAL at the wall at 2:00 in the morning when I finished reading and realized that I was going to have wait an entire year for the resolution of spies and disastrous love affairs and murderous plots against innocents. But you won't have that problem!