The Mummy's Quest (The Universal Library)

The Mummy's Quest is the first of a series of horror/comedy books inspired by the classic horror films of the 1930s (and by Universal Studios attempt to reinvent them as a single universe - this is my version). The stories are set in the present but with a classic feel, a tongue in cheek delivery, and many references to the originals for horror film fans to spot. In a basement gallery of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, is displayed the Mummy known as the Priest with Turquoise Eyes. It is believed to be the mummy of Ramose, High Priest to Queen Amunet, ruler of Ancient Egypt's Lost Dynasty. Amelia Evans (Egyptologist, bookworm and tea enthusiast) has been trying to decipher the cryptic hieroglyphics on the Priest's sarcophagus for many years, but her work takes an unexpected turn when she arrives at the museum one morning to find a dead body on the floor and the Mummy gone.At the same time, Arthur Banning - a young archaeology graduate, embarking on his first dig in an attempt to impress his girlfriend - joins a top secret excavation in Egypt's Western Desert. The dig is run by Arthur's old mentor, Professor Andoheb, and tough, 'seen-it-all' site manager, Maggie Moran, a woman who sleeps in a Wham! T-shirt with a gun under her pillow. They believe they have located the lost tomb of Queen Amunet. But they do not seem to be alone out in the desert. The two sides of the story are brought together by Boris, the suave, panther-like agent of a shadowy organisation called Universal Egyptology. Boris has a theory: he thinks the Mummy is going home.Now it's up to Amelia and Arthur to track down the Priest with Turquoise Eyes and stop him from resurrecting a Witch Queen and her army of the dead. It's an adventure to which neither is well-suited, and the Mummy's story may yet prove not to be as simple as it seems.