Sonderbooks Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

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I don't review books I don't like!

*****= An all-time favorite
****  = Outstanding
***    = Above average
**      = Enjoyable
*        = Good, with reservations

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****Crocodile on the Sandbank

by Elizabeth Peters

Reviewed November 10, 2002.
A Sonderbooks' Best Book of 2002 (#5, Fiction)
The first Amelia Peabody mystery.
Mysterious Press, New York, 1984.  Originally published in 1975.

After I reviewed Lord of the Silent, my friend Leah informed me that I really should read the Amelia Peabody mysteries in the order they were written.  Better yet, she loaned me the first book!

Crocodile on the Sandbank is absolutely delightful.  It takes place in the 1880s, when Amelia Peabody is not yet an Egyptologist.  In fact, she is single and has recently inherited a fortune.  She is supremely capable, confident and self-sufficient and feels no need for men in her life.

In Rome, Amelia meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young lady in great distress.  She takes Evelyn on as a companion in her further travels to Egypt.  In Egypt, Amelia gets her first experience of work on an excavation when she visits the archaeological site run by the disagreeable Radcliffe Emerson (who seems to have little use for women) and his young and handsome brother.  While there, the excavation is haunted by a walking mummy.  She doesn’t believe the mummy has really come to life, but circumstances get sinister.

The interaction between Amelia and Emerson had me chuckling all the way through the book.  The adventure was absorbing, with the unusual setting in Egypt adding interest.  I am definitely going to want to read further in this series.

Although Sembach Library does not have this first book, Ramstein Library does.

Amelia Peabody Mystery #2:  The Curse of the Pharaohs
Amelia Peabody Mystery #3:  The Mummy Case
Amelia Peabody Mystery #4:  Lion in the Valley
Amelia Peabody Mystery #5:  The Deeds of the Disturber
Ameilia Peabody Mystery #13:  Lord of the Silent


Copyright © 2006 Sondra Eklund. All rights reserved.

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