What famous mystery novelist earned a doctorate in Egyptology and authored two nonfiction books on ancient Egypt? Answer: Barbara Mertz (aka Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels) American author Barbara Mertz (1927–2013) studied Egyptology at the University of Chicago and graduated with a Ph.D. in 1952. Before becoming a fiction superstar, she published two nonfiction books on ancient Egypt: Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt (1964) and Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (1966). On the advice of her publisher, she wrote under pseudonyms to keep her fiction and nonfiction works separate. Under the […]
