Another body Peabody (Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters)

Member Name: jillycat

Product:	Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters
Date:	17/06/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a great fun read light hearted

Disadvantages: none

Now this is my first adult book review so please be gentle with me as I try to get a blance between trying to tell you all about the book without giving the plot away.
I started to read the Elizabeth Peters books several years ago and got hooked on her amusing style of writing which I think is very mischievous and tongue in cheek. She has written several books and different series including the Amelia Peabody mysteries of which Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first. She has also written a series called the Vicky Bliss mysteries

About the Author
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Now Elizabeth Peters is a nom de plume and her real name is Barbara G. Mertz
This is her blurb from her internet site about herself
"Barbara G. Mertz studied at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, receiving an M.A. in 1950 and a Ph.D. in Egyptology in 1952. In 1950 she married Richard Mertz and had two children, Elizabeth and Peter. She was divorced in 1969. A past president of American Crime Writers League, she presently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of KMT, A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt. She is also a member of the Egypt Exploration Society and the James Henry Breasted Circle of the Oriental Institute. Under her own name she is the author of Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs, A Popular history of Ancient Egypt and Red Land, Black Land, Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. Under her pseudonym as Barbara Michaels she has written twenty nine novels of suspense. As Elizabeth Peters, she has produced thirty seven mystery-suspense novels, many of them set in Egypt and the Middle East. Dr. Mertz was awarded a D.H.L. from Hood College in 1989. The Mystery Writers of America awarded her the MWA Grandmaster in 1998. She has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic and the Grandmaster Award from Bouchercon. "

The book
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This is the first book in the Amelia Peabody series of which there are now 18 books. This is the first time we meet Amelia or as she is know to Radclife Emerson "Peabody"

The synopsis of the book is as follows

When strong-willed Amelia Peabody's studious father dies, Amelia decides to use her ample inheritance to travel. After rescuing a gentlewoman (Evelyn Barton-Forbes) in considerable distress, the two become friends and Amelia hires Evelyn to be her companion on the next leg of her trip, which takes them to Egypt. There Amelia encounters mysteries, missing mummies, and Radclife Emerson, an opinionated archaeologist who doesn't need a woman's help to solve the mystery--or so he thinks.

A bit about the main characters
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Amelia Peabody
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Amelia Peabody, the protagonist, is strong-minded, outspoken, and something of a Victorian super-heroine really she is the uber-Victorian feminist. She takes the stuffy world of archaeology by storm with her no nonsense dress sense which we hear more about as the series continues she has very forthright opinions which she makes no bones about expressing.

Radclife Emerson
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Radclife, an intelligent but belligerent archeologist who soon realizes he's met his match in Amelia. He comes across as a very gruff but You warm to him very quickly Least I did as a woman I think he is designed and written to appeal as a strong but gentle gentleman who also as a strong sense of right and wrong and he is always right till Amelia tells him other wise! His Egyptian name is "father of curses," and at first he is viewed as only tender to a sarcophagus

Walter Emerson
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This is Radcliff's more studies brother and he is seen as the foil, sounding board and quieter half of the pair, his character through out the series does develop but at lot less so than many of the others

Evelyn Barton-Forbes
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She starts off very much the swooning waif but develops with Amelia's help a bit of back bone and resolve

My opinion
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These books are an enchantment and if you haven't read any of them you should start right now. They take you back to the days of gentle living. Where everything stops for tea and of course it would be unimaginable and breaking so many rules if the men not to dress for dinner. I love the way Elizabeth Peters conjures up the day to day life of the Victoria aristocracy abroad with a gentle wit and whimsy. If you're looking for a thriller/mystery, then this isn't it; this is no gritty real life drama as in an Ian Rankin Novel. But if you want an entertaining, funny, well-written novel with great characters and a sense of humor then this is a book to read. I have read all the novels in the series from my local library more than once and I am gradually buying the books now to reread as I find them so entertaining and amusing. My husband has often picked up one of the books I am reading and read parts of it himself and asks what is Amelia up to know. This is a great deal of suspension of belief and the plots do twist and turn but thats part of the charm

Acclaim for the book
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The Guardian
"Dastardly deeds, whirlwind romances, curious mummies and all the fun and intrigue of Egyptian excavations, with a heroine who wields a sturdy parasol rather than a magnum. Accomplished entertainment." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this


Book details
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Paperback: 318 pages
Publisher: Robinson Publishing (25 May 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1845293886
ISBN-13: 978-1845293888
You can buy the book currently from Amazon priced at 5.49

Summary: a comic murder mystery set in Eygpt during the Victorian times