R.I.P. Barbara Michaels / Elizabeth Peters

One of my favorite authors died last week. Barbara Mertz, otherwise known as Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters, died at the age of 85. She wrote some of the best Gothic horror stories of the 20th Century, which I discovered as a teen. Now I am motivated to reread as many of them as I can. The first on my list is Wait for What Will Come, which I already have on my nook. I will give you a synopsis and review about this later, when I finish reading it again.

Besides Gothic horror stories, Barbara/Elizabeth wrote the admirable mysteries about Amelia Peabody Emerson. I learned nearly all I know about Egyptology from Amelia, and her sense of humor always left me in stitches! I also loved the other series about Jacqueline Kirby, librarian par excellence, and Dr. Vickie Bliss, beautiful and super-smart art historian/detective. Barbara/Elizabeth certainly had a way of making her characters memorable and well-developed, lol.

Interconnected and inseparable with my reading of Barbara Michaels'/Elizabeth Peters' stories, is listening to the audiobook versions, read by one of the best narrators out there, Barbara Rosenblat. She definitely has a knack of making exciting stories even more exciting! I often forget that it is one reader I am hearing, since her voice changes are so quick, consistent, and completely different. I just love it when she does her Schmitt voice in the Vickie Bliss stories, or her Amelia P. Emerson voice! Barbara adds dimension to the characters through her reading.

Here is the website to learn more about Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters and her books. I know I will be tracking down the older iInes through interlibrary loan and amazon. I am also including a link to Barbara Rosenblat's homepage with info on her audio books (you will want to hear them all, just so you can listen to Barbara's voice changes).

Official Website of Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Rosenblat Homepage