The Dead Sea Cipher

By: Elizabeth Peters

Narrated by: Grace Conlin

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Dinah Van der Lyn hears the cries for help through her hotel room wall, cries in English in the middle of Beirut. "Help" is the only English word spoken. She thinks the men are simply drunk and fighting. Her mistake is the first step on an odyssey of terror that will take Dinah to the fabled cities of Sidon, Tyro, Damascus....

And then Jerusalem, racing through the twisting streets not knowing if the man she is following will lead her to safety...or into a deadly trap!

©1970 Elizabeth Peters (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

Dated but still fun

It’s funny to hear about that “crazy new music” by the Beatles, and other references that date this story to the 1970s or thereabouts.
I was also struck by the references to the desert landscape and to archaeology, which play such a large role in the Amelia Peabody stories.

good book

great book but recording has muffled voices in the back, as long as you dont mind it you are good.

enjoyable

I have loved the Amelia Peabody series for decades and knew of the Vicki Bliss series but had no idea of the 1 off books she wrote. Each with archeology interest and mystery with some danger involved. I enjoyed this book very much.

Fun Adventure

While in a Lebanese hotel, American tourist Dinah overhears a cry for help from the next room. Her response unwittingly involves her in a murder investigation. When she leaves Beirut for a tour of Israel, she becomes further enmeshed, this time with spies, archeological treasures, and romance. This is a typical Peters' adventure, with an intelligent heroine, historical interests, and improbable but fun action. Peters was talented at making interesting plots and likable characters and, while this novel is not as good as others by her, I was entertained throughout.

Ms. Conlin gave an average performance with mostly distinctive voices, but accents that weren't always uniform..

Good adventure

I enjoyed the story and the excellent reader I enjoy archeological adventures. There were enough twists to keep me interested.

Readable but barely

Not the Elizabeth Peters I know except for the focus on archeology. Better to make it a short story so she could make the one point she wants to make about humanity and theology

Interesting early writing by Peters

A little trite, and the story isn't as developed with the depth of Peter's Peabody Series, but a fun read.

Good but uneven

Intriguing plot, but this doesn't have nearly the polish of the author's later works. The characters are all just a bit too clever and witty, and the plot is a little hard to follow at times. It also lacks some attention to detail - it was Abraham who was asked to sacrifice his son in Genesis, and the narrator, though quite skilled and pleasant sounding, mispronounces several words.

Pleasant enough for a free audio book but possibly not worth a purchase or using a credit unless you want to see how the author started out in her novel-writing second career.

Delightful

This is an early Peters, cast in the form of her non-series romantic, archaeological, mysteries. The girl is appealing, the men quickly sketched but suitably heroic or villainous depending on the role assigned them, and the romance is done with easy grace and suitable lightness to keep it from weighing down the story. Typically, there are interesting archaeological aspects although the basic Christian significance and supposed consequences of unraveling the cypher never were clear to me. For those who share the background of the characters religious perspective that may not be a problem. The reader is not Barbara Rosenblatt but does a good job nonetheless. The pace is swift, the cast of characters, split between interesting and essentially blurred depending on their role in the story.All in all, I can recommend this one to all Elizabeth Peters, Barbara Michaels, readers, and to anyone who likes a sproutly, what once were called, "Lady in Distress" books which are in a humorous rather than high suspense mode.

Always good!

Elizabeth Peters is always good! She is able to create characters who engage the reader and keep it interesting but a little daring. Her women are always worth knowing, her knowledge of the background info, a touch of romance, but not too sappy! Keep writing Elizabeth, I will buy them all!