The Curse of Senmut

Ardis Cole #1

by Vickie Britton, Loretta Jackson

"...superbly crafted and entertaining mystery adventures..." –Midwest Book Review"Nice thrills and chills. The authors have obviously done their archeological homework, and in between all the mysterious goings-on, we learn fascinating details of Hatshepsut's stormy reign. The Egyptology is all there, and it's enjoyable." –Mystery Scene MagazineOutside a small village near the Valley of the Kings, archaeologist Ardis Cole arrives in Egypt to help excavate a tomb recently discovered by her mentor, Jane Darvin. When Jane is murdered, Ardis must assume responsibility for the project. With the help of mysterious Blake Lydon, she must unravel the tomb’s mystery—an ancient secret concerning two miniature obelisks of gold hidden by Queen Hatshepsut’s love, Senmut, over 2000 years ago. As Ardis uncovers the ancient mystery, she finds herself drawn into a modern action tale of hatred, murder, and revenge.

Genres: Mystery, Egypt, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime, Archaeology, Historical Fiction

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Vickie Britton writes with her sister Loretta Jackson. They are the authors of over forty novels. Their series include the Jeff McQuede High Country Mystery Series and the Ardis Cole Archaeological Mystery Series. Vickie live in Kansas, but she spent many years in Laramie, Wyoming. Their newest High County mystery novels set in Wyoming are MURDER IN BLACK AND WHITE, WHISPERS OF THE STONES,and STEALER OF HORSES.

Reviews

[Mags · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. Think I have previously read a book by these two (and thought it was really heavy handed and annoying to read), but somehow didn't remember that I had.
This was really bad. The main character (Ardis Cole) sees evil intent in everyone who her mentor loved and trusted - but trusts everyone who has just suddenly appeared on the scene of the novel.
I read it all because I really don't like NOT finishing a book. But honestly, it's a few hours of my life I won't get back.
Again, glad it was free

[Rebecca (LirilAB) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because of the Egyptology theme and because it was in my backlog of books that I had downloaded on Kindle for free at some point. Despite initial misgivings over the writing due to a couple of noticeable grammar usage errors within the first ten pages, I went on to enjoy the rest of the book with no other major issues with the writing. I loved that the story and mystery revolved around Egyptian archaeology and that the main character considers herself an archaeologist.

Nevertheless, she was an unconvincing archaeologist. There was one point in the story where the main character, Ardis, discovers something and then breaks something apart with her hands to dig it out, and she also wasn't able to resist spontaneously disturbing other things rather than using more established procedures for current archaeological preservation. Yes, maybe explorers and adventurers were similarly careless when making their discoveries, but I suspect the behavior would horrify today's scientists.

Also, if someone had murdered my mentor by poisoning her drink and I was at risk of the same danger, would I just drink whatever drinks people gave me (especially when there was an emphasis that a certain one was made especially for me) rather than making sure I knew where they came from and never left them unguarded? Well I might, but not Ardis. And then when something did inevitably happen, she was initially clueless and only seemed to put those pieces together later.

There was also a romance that was very sweet, but the guy seemed much younger than his 32 years, and his character just wasn't very developed which was disappointing as I felt there was a lot of potential to his story. The romance seemed to jump from hints of attraction right into full-blown love. Considering that it seems that there are at least five more books involving this Ardis character, there wouldn't have been need to rush such a relationship and it could have developed more slowly and naturally over time.

Despite these issues with character development, I liked reading the story. It had a good theme and kept my interest wondering what would happen next. Even though it turned out to be one of those dreaded "Book 1" types that I try very much to avoid for unknown (to me) authors, it did not end on a cliffhanger and the story was completely self-contained. I'm still interested in reading the next book at some future point.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this mystery interesting and engaging. When Ardis heads to meet her mentor Jane Darvin, she finds the fellow archaeologist very sick. Rushing Jane to the hospital, Ardis is devastated when the woman dies, This is when the mystery involving ancient Egypt begins and readers are taken on an amazing ride that is hard to walk away from. The authors did a great job with history and the feel of archaeological dig. I think readers are going to be fascinated by this tale.

[Marian L. Siedzik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story!

I enjoyed the book very much. I really like that there is no profanity or sex scenes in it. It is safe for young teens and us ole folks that do not like that in the stories we read.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable book, well worth reading. I'm a big fan of novels featuring Egyptology and lady heroines, so that was all good. And it was sufficiently "colorful" in that regard. The writing suffers slightly from a peculiar affectation in some places, but the mechanics of the prose are otherwise all good, so I shouldn't really ding it for that, but it did bug me a little: the writing in many passages overuses the heroine's name when pronouns would be smoother, and even expected, in long narrative passages. (Sorry, I removed one of the stars for this... but I still recommend the book and I may well read the next in the series...) And, btw, this book is entirely suitable for a general audience, even pre-teens I think.


Example of overusing the heroine's name, near page 179/208 of the e-book: five paragraphs in a row that begin with "Ardis", and also use the name internally. In several places I would notice overuse of the name, and then a paragraph that starts off using "she", but in the middle of the paragraph her name appears again. Occasionally, it seemed like a symptom of having two authors, one of whom uses the name more than the other. Or, it could be an early work of the author, and hopefully subsequent books don't suffer from this minor annoyance.

Near the end when Blake "finally" declares his love, I had to giggle and roll my eyes. It's so much like a 1950s movie or a 19th century novel where people fall in love at the drop of a hat. It would have been more realistic, to me, if they hadn't fallen in love. Or, if they had slept together out of raw lust early on, then fallen in "like-like" more slowly and/or more visibly, only mentioning talk of marriage jokingly near the end and letting the reader see, "Oh, they really *are* in love after all!" Maybe that's just me...

And, worst spoiler of all: O-M-G, I read the sample of the next book that's at the end and oh, gosh. The authors really don't want their gal to get married, do they...! :-) LOL.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing style was readable, the plot was intriguing and it kept me guessing but I felt like several of the scenes were contrived and all of the major players in the story were too often conveniently all in the same room (or vicinity) together, especially in the second half, which I thought unrealistic (and a little bit like the Egyptian version of “Clue”). I also felt the romance between the two main characters was brought on rather abruptly. While there was an attraction there, suddenly the male protagonist was dropping the L-bomb to the female protagonist when they still hardly knew each other! It was very bizarre and not very realistic.

[Lillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Egypt at an archaeological dig, this is an intriguing mystery. I appreciated the fact that there is no bad language, sex, or graphic violence. I also liked that I didn't find errors, particularly wrong word usage, which has been so common in the books I've read recently that I don't even mention it in reviews unless there are many errors. I wasn't pulled out of the story or distracted by things that bother me—just enjoyed a good mystery with a dash of romance. The romance was a little underplayed for my taste—it would have been more believable if there had been more attraction and interaction between them throughout the story.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm only giving this two stars because it was set in Egypt and has to do with archaeology. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.

But I really can't recommend this book. It was predictable and trite. The main character, Ardis Cole (apparently, there are more books featuring her), is a simpering idiot who can't figure out who the bad guys are, when I had them pegged early on.

There is a happy romantic ending. I'm happy to be done with this one.

Oh, let me just say this, though: what kind of archaeologist just starts chipping away at a stone obelisk trying to find gold underneath it? An idiot archaeologist, that's what kind. Ugh.

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Synopsis: The archaeologist Ardis Cole is summoned to Egypt to help her good friend, Jane Darvin excavate a tomb that had recently been discovered. They thought that the tomb had been for Queen Hatshepsut, but when somebody murdered Jane Darvin, it was up to Ardis Cole to continue to unravel the mystery of the tomb and Hatshepsut's lover Senmut.

My Review: The story and premise was not terrible, but something about the writing style and presentation made it so I didn't really love this book. There was just enough intrigue to keep me reading, but overall it was not that great.

[Lonna Cunningham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this book tried my patience. Though the premise was interesting and the setting exotic, the dialog was so stuffy and stilted I wondered more than once if this had been translated from some other language into English by someone unfamiliar with the way people actually talk.
The plot was as one would expect ... And I think with a bit more editing this could've been a far more enjoyable book.

[Deb Novack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ardis Cole is summoned to Egypt by her teacher and mentor Jane Darvin.Jane is murdered as soon as Ardis arrives and she must take over the project. There are many mysterious happenings and people in this story. If you like love Egypt,archeology and mystery this is the series for you. I finished it in 2 days I could not put it down I can't wait for the next book in the series.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

horrible recording, not interested in hearing mouth noises and echos in the recording. Story was ok, could have been a lot better, there was gaps and sometimes it seemed sections missing. I honestly think most of the problems I have is with the audio version...I will try the next in the series by reading it....

[Tressa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like The Curse of Senmut. The plodding writing style and narration (which isn't the narrator's fault since she was following the book) just turned me off the story. It felt stilted and the names were frequently repeated, which compounded my dislike of the book. I couldn't finish listening to the audiobook.

[Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rate a book on how much I liked the story and I liked this story. It had elements of Agatha Christie with its group of likely suspects, clues and happenings to keep you clueless and misdirection on the who-done-it. Normally I would give this fun read a four, but I had to balance out ratings based on things not related to the story.

[Hannah Roselyn Bloczynski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough....

Interesting enough storyline, but some parts were too hurried. There was a good twist at the end, but the love story aspect was not well thought out in my opinion. Pleasant, quick read. Might be willing to read more of the series at some point. The editing errors annoyed me a bit. They threw off the rhythm of the story.

[Lee Holz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Curse of Senmut is not a hard-edged thriller full of sex and violence. It is a well crafted and plotted mystery with a murder, a tomb, a curse and lots of exotic scenes and romance. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it to all who are looking for an entertaining read.

[Deedra · Rating 1 out of 5]

UGH

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 1 Ardis Cole series

Excellent book. This was a quick read. I can not wait to read the next book in her series. Excellent author

[Belletab · Rating 2 out of 5]

there was nothing wrong with the book / no editing issues - unfortunately, it was plain boring. i couldn't wait to finish it so i could start a new book.

[p3reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know those books where you think, "I could do better than this..." In the case of this book, I think my twelve-year old students could do better than this.