History Creator / PaulSussman

* UnreliableNarrator: The title character of ''The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Phoenix'', who has lived for the whole length of the twentieth century and wishes to record his own account of that century before killing himself on 1st January 2000 — his hundredth birthday.

* MeaningfulName: Flin Brodie, the archaeologist in ''The Hidden Oasis'', shares his first name with the legendary RealLife archaeologist Flinders Petrie. In addition to which, he shares his surname with [[Franchise/IndianaJones Marcus Brodie]].

* {{Homage}}: ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'' is this to ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' — although this story is told (partly) from the perspective of the Marion Ravenwood equivalent, Tara Mullray. Her archaeologist father is dead, and her archaeologist ex-boyfriend Daniel (with whom things ended badly, back in the day) shows up and takes her on a quest involving ancient tombs, snakes, an Egyptian friend of his who has previously worked for him on digs, an evil German and an archaeological dig happening out in the desert aimed at uncovering an ancient mystery (in this case, the fate of the titular army). [[spoiler: The climax, though, comes with TheReveal that Daniel — the Indy equivalent — is not the good guy she thought he was. Which is why this story has no Belloq equivalent, as he combines the two.]]

** Yusuf Khalifa, who features in four of the novels, sometimes reflects that he ''could'' have been an archaeologist but instead joined the police after studying ancient history at university on the grounds that it offered better job security than the Antiquities Service, and he needed to provide for his pregnant wife and widowed mother at the time. Being a police detective certainly leads him to a few adventures in which ancient history figures prominently.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: In ''The Hidden Oasis'', Brodie is able to convince the mooks not to kill him on the grounds that he, like them, is a fan of Al Ahly, one of the top football teams in Egypt. They agree to spare his life as a result.

* {{Homage}}: ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'' is this to ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' — although this story is told (partly) from the perspective of the Marion Ravenwood equivalent, Tara Mullray. Her archaeologist father is dead, and her ex-boyfriend Daniel (with whom things ended badly, back in the day) shows up and takes her on a quest involving ancient tombs, snakes, an Egyptian friend of his who has previously worked for him on digs, an evil German and an archaeological dig happening out in the desert aimed at uncovering an ancient mystery (in this case, the fate of the titular army). [[spoiler: The climax, though, comes with TheReveal that Daniel — the Indy equivalent — is not the good guy she thought he was. Which is why this story has no Belloq equivalent, as he combines the two.]]

* {{Homage}}: ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'' is this to ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' — although this story is told (partly) from the perspective of the Marion Ravenwood equivalent, Tara Mullray. Her archaeologist father is dead, and her ex-boyfriend (with whom things ended badly, back in the day) shows up and takes her on a quest involving ancient tombs, snakes, an Egyptian friend of his who has previously worked for him on digs, an evil German and an archaeological dig happening out in the desert aimed at uncovering an ancient mystery (in this case, the fate of the titular army). [[spoiler: The climax, though, comes with TheReveal that the ex-boyfriend — the Indy equivalent — is not the good guy she thought he was.]]

* ChekhovsSkill: In ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'', two characters have experience of working with certain animals — Tara Mullray is a snake expert at London zoo, while Yusuf Khalifa worked in a camel yard as a boy. Both characters have to utilise this experience at different points in the plot. Khalifa's knowledge of ancient history also counts, as he's [[spoiler: the only one who spots that the tomb is an elaborate fake, because a couple of the ''shabtis'' are from a later time period, in addition to which the hieroglyphs are just a little bit ''too'' perfect — as discussed earlier, the ancients always made small mistakes]].

* ChekhovsSkill: In ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'', two characters have experience of working with certain animals — Tara Mullray is a snake expert at London zoo, while Yusuf Khalifa worked in a camel yard as a boy. Both characters have to utilise this experience at different points in the plot.

* {{Homage}}: ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'' is this to the adventures of Franchise/IndianaJones, particularly ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' — although this story is told (partly) from the perspective of the Marion Ravenwood equivalent, Tara Mullray. Her archaeologist father is dead, and her ex-boyfriend (also an archaeologist, albeit one with a somewhat less-than-clean reputation) shows up and takes her on a quest involving ancient tombs, snakes, an Egyptian friend of his who has previously worked for him on digs, an evil German and an archaeological dig happening out in the desert aimed at uncovering an ancient mystery (in this case, the fate of the titular army). [[spoiler: The climax, though, comes with TheReveal that the ex-boyfriend — the Indy equivalent — is not the good guy she thought he was.]]

* TheReveal: A few towards the end of ''The Lost Army of Cambyses''. First, [[spoiler: Saif al-Tha'r]] is revealed to be [[spoiler: Khalifa's brother Ali]]. It had previously been implied that [[spoiler: Ali had died years before after being radicalised, but instead he actually became Saif al-Tha'r, the most radical Islamic extremist of them all, and dropped his old identity after the massacre in his home village (which he actually perpetrated). Eagle-eyed readers may well be able to spot a couple of early clues that indicate this.]] Second, [[spoiler: that tomb of a solider who had apparently survived the sandstorm in the prologue was an elaborate fake, which Daniel had constructed at the behest of British and American intelligence as part of the plot to lure Saif al-Tha'r into Egypt, where they can kill him.]]

** Yusuf Khalifa, who features in four of the novels, sometimes reflects that he ''could'' have been an archaeologist but instead joined the police after studying ancient history at university on the grounds that it offered better job security than the Antiquities Service, and he needed to provide for his pregnant wife and widowed mother at the time.

* {{Homage}}: ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'' is this to the adventures of Franchise/IndianaJones, particularly ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' — although this story is told (partly) from the perspective of the Marion Ravenwood equivalent, Tara Mullray. Her archaeologist father is dead, and her ex-boyfriend (also an archaeologist, albeit one with a somewhat less-than-clean reputation) shows up and takes her on a quest involving ancient tombs, snakes, an Egyptian friend of his who has previously worked for him on digs, an evil German and an archaeological dig happening out in the desert aimed at uncovering an ancient mystery (in this case, the fate of the titular army).

* TheReveal: Towards the end of ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'', [[spoiler: Saif al-Tha'r]] is revealed to be [[spoiler: Khalifa's brother Ali]]. It had previously been implied that [[spoiler: Ali had died years before after being radicalised, but instead he actually became Saif al-Tha'r, the most radical Islamic extremist of them all, and dropped his old identity after the massacre in his home village (which he actually perpetrated). Eagle-eyed readers may well be able to spot a couple of early clues that indicate this]].

* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler: Daniel Lacage]] in ''The Lost Army of Cambyses''.

* HappilyMarried: Yusuf and Zenab Khalifa. She has no regrets about marrying a man with less money than the pompous fool her sister married, and they are clearly as in life with each other as they ever were. [[spoiler: In ''The Labyrinth of Osiris '', their love ultimately proves strong enough to keep them and their family together after the death of their son]].

* CigarChomper: Casper Dravic in ''The Lost Army of Cambyses'', who enjoys stunning his cigars out on his victims.
* DeadGuyJunior: Yusuf Khalifa's eldest son, Ali, is named after his dead brother. [[spoiler: Who is actually not dead, although he is to all intents and purposes dead to Khalifa]].