Barbara Mertz studied at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, receiving an MA in 1950 and a PhD in Egyptology in 1952. In 1950 she married Richard Mertz and had two children, Elizabeth and Peter. She was divorced in 1969. A past president of American Crime Writers League, she presently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of KMT, A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt. She is also a member of the Egypt Exploration Society and the James Henry Breasted Circle of the Oriental Institute. Under her own name she is the author of TEMPLES, TOMBS, AND HIEROGLYPHS: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt, and RED LAND, BLACK LAND: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Under her pseudonym of Barbara Michaels, she has written 29 novels of suspense. As Elizabeth Peters, she has produced 37 mystery-suspense novels, many of them set in Egypt and the Middle East. Dr. Mertz was awarded a DHL from Hood College in 1989. The Mystery Writers of America awarded her the MWA Grand Master in 1998. She has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic and the Grand Master Award from Bouchercon.

Books by Barbara Mertz

Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt

by Barbara Mertz - History, Nonfiction

World-renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz explores the reality behind the bestselling fiction she writes (as Elizabeth Peters) and casts a dazzling light on a remarkable civilization.A fascinating chronicle of an extraordinary people --- from the first Stone Age settlements through the reign of Cleopatra and the Roman invasions --- TEMPLES, TOMBS, AND HIEROGLYPHS brings ancient Egypt to life as never before.