The Serpent on the Crown is the 17th in a series of historical mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and published in 2005.

In 1922 the Emersons are excavating at Deir el Medina, living in Luxor, when melodramatic Mrs Magda Petherick appears, hands them a box with an antique that she believes killed her husband in November.

The box holds a solid gold small statue of a pharaoh, and it is both beautiful and a genuine antique, likely from the era of Amenhotep.

Mrs Petherick's stepson Adrian, who is recovering from the Great War, accuses them of taking the most valuable item in his father's collection.

The next morning, they learn that Mrs Petherick's body was found in the gardens of the hotel, with white flower petals scattered over her.

Ramses, who specializes in reading ancient Egyptian writing, finds one note at the site about asking the gods' forgiveness for wrongdoing.

After translating all of the note, Katchenovsky wants to claim sole credit and threatens Ramses with a gun; Amelia is shot when she attempts to intervene.

The book's title is from the Poetical Stela of Thutmose III: Kirkus Reviews found this novel a bit less complex or convoluted in plot than others in this series.

In their view, "Peabody's Victorian rhetoric can go over the top, but her likable family's fans will find much to enjoy in an adventure less convoluted than usual, salted with the obligatory tidbits of Egyptology.