“Sometimes the characters develop
almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn't planned
on, and then you have to go back to page 42 and fix things. I'm not
recommending it as a way to write. It's very sloppy, but it works for me.” –
Barbara Mertz
Born in Illinois on this date
in 1927, Mertz wrote under her own name as well as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. Best known for her mystery and
suspense novels – especially as Peters – Mertz (who held a Ph.D. in Egyptology)
also wrote two scholarly books on ancient Egypt.
Her 20-book “Amelia Peabody”
mystery series earned her wide acclaim and millions of readers with the final
book – The Painted Queen – published in 2017 just after her
death. Her heroine is an Egyptologist and the stories all
relate to the "Golden Age" of Egyptology, beginning with Crocodile
on the Sandbank (set in 1884) and ending with Tomb of the
Golden Bird –the discovery of Tutankhamen's (King Tut’s) tomb in 1922.
Despite writing some 75 books,
she called herself “undisciplined” as a writer, saying she really never
developed a writing schedule or routine.
“I work when I feel like it, and I
work when I have to - mostly the latter, and it works for me,” she said. “I can do a book in three months if I spend
all day, seven days a week at it and, in fact, I work better that way.”
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