The Laughter of Dead Kings (Vicky Bliss, #6)

I had high hopes for The Laughter of Dead Kings, the sixth and final installment of Elizabeth Peters' Vicky Bliss series. I've loved the Vicky books almost as much as I've loved the Amelia Peabodies--and indeed, I'd been deeply charmed to learn as of Book 5 that the two series are in fact set in the same universe. With great anticipation, I'd looked forward to seeing how that connection would be strengthened in Book 6. However, for me at least, Laughter ultimately disappoints.

One issue is one which Peters herself addresses in an introduction to the book: i.e., the fact that the Vicky books have always been set in "present time", and yet, this book is coming out many years after the last one. Peters has chosen to move "present time" forward to reflect actual present time, and gloss over the discrepancy this causes with the prior books. I cannot fault her for advising readers not to fret too much about that; nevertheless, it did jar for me to read about Vicky and Schmidt carrying around cell phones and sending text messages, when no such technology had been at their disposal before. Moreover, one of the characters in the plot appears to have aged considerably since his prior appearance in the series--and he's the only one to have aged noticeably at all. This makes for an overall inconsistent picture of exactly how much time should have elapsed since Book 5, and it's just jarring in general.

More importantly, though, is the issue I noticed during the last few Amelia Peabodies: to wit, Ms. Peters' traditional vivacious style seems to be lacking in her most recent works. I had hoped that this was perhaps a symptom of the Amelia Peabodies running out of steam, but alas, no, I get the same vibe in this book as well. All the proper characters are present, and they're saying the proper things... and yet, the flair that made me such a longstanding fan of this author just doesn't seem to be here.

It's sad, too, because the tie-in with the Amelia Peabodies didn't have nearly as much dramatic interest as I'd hoped in the plot; it turns out to be merely a coincidental side detail, where I'd hoped it would contribute significantly to the action. We do get some nice brief callbacks to Amelia and her family, and even a tie-in with the conceit of how the Emersons' adventures became "a series of novels" (aheh). But it didn't add nearly enough interest for me to the plot overall.

All in all not really a satisfying conclusion to the series, although I will give it points for a nice romantic resolution for Vicky and John, and for a pretty decent resolution as well to the overall crisis at hand. Two stars.