The Falcon at the Portal (1999) is the 11th (in order of writing) in a series of historical mystery novels by Elizabeth Peters, first published in 1999.

At the end of the book, Amelia dreams of Abdullah, who tells her: A collector of Egyptian antiques visits the house in Kent in fall 1911, asking Emerson for a second opinion on a recent purchase.

Thus begins the case to be solved: who wants to ruin David's reputation while selling fakes as if true antiques?

The wedding takes place at the country estate of Walter and Evelyn Emerson, parents of Lia.

Three guests travel from Egypt (Selim, Daoud, and Fatimah), and Cyrus and Katherine Vandergelt come from America.

Percy published his memoir of one visit with his aunt in Egypt, entertaining due to his exaggerations and lies, written in grandiose style.

Arriving in Alexandria, Amelia is not pleased to see nephew Percy, in the uniform of the Egyptian army.

Emerson chose to excavate at Zawyet el'Aryan, south of the great pyramids of Giza.

Geoffrey Godwin, another young Egyptologist, worked with Jack the previous season, in that area.

They begin listing possible suspects, narrowing to a man who is young, English or European, archaeologist, familiar with the Emerson family.

When Cyrus and Katherine arrive, the Emersons call a meeting with them, Selim and Daoud to discuss the forgery problem and the incidents so far.

Cyrus suggests a focus on the dig site hiding something, which proves a wise insight.

Emerson and Amelia learn of the project to get at the forger of antiquities by getting at the gang bringing illegal drugs into the country.

Geoff led the drug smuggling and the theft of true antiquities and selling of forgeries.

Percy arranged the scene of Sennia, her mother and the pimp to embarrass Ramses in front of his family.

Ramses plans to work at another site for a month, keeping Sennia with him, with the help of the women in Selim's family to care for her.

Amelia has one more dream of talking with the late Abdullah, who tells her there are more hard challenges to come, but she does have the strength to face them.

To its credit, "the book is packed with intriguing characters and dangerous situations, and the villain, who can be picked out long before the climax, is unmasked."

Character development is strong for David, for Ramses and Nefret, and for the family taking in the illegitimate child of Percy and an Egyptian prostitute.