BOOK REVIEW

BY SARAH BOGART

Staff Reviewer for The Daily Basics

# 1 in the Amelia Peabody Series

CROCODILE  ON THE SANDBANK

By Elizabeth Peters

When I first set eyes on Evelyn Barton-Forbes she was walking the streets of Rome.   (I am informed by the self-appointed Critic who reads over my shoulder as I write, that I am already committed an error. If those seemingly simple English words do indeed imply to the vulgar, I must in justice to Evelyn find other phrasing.)

In justice to myself, however, I must insist that Evelyn was doing precisely what I have said she was doing, but with no ulterior purpose in mind. Indeed, the poor girl had no purpose and no means of carrying it out if she had. Our meeting was fortuitous, but fortunate. I had, as I have always had, purpose enough for two.

So begins the first book in Elizabeth Peters’ (the pseudonym of Egyptologist Barbara Mertz) Amelia Peabody series.  The Crocodile on the Sandbank introduces us to Amelia Peabody, the thirty-two year old (though her age was changed in later books) independent woman, a believer in women’s suffrage, and the daughter of a (surprisingly wealthy) professor, with all the education and intelligence that entails.  Upon her father’s death, she decides to use her new found fortune to travel the world – in 1884, an age when women were expected to marry and produce children, and certainly not travel to a foreign land unaccompanied.  Amelia defies all ordinary conventions and travels by herself, first to Rome (where she meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, whose family has disowned her after she eloped with her Italian instructor), and then onwards, with Evelyn, to Egypt.

Though Amelia is self-described as not typically attractive, and vows never to marry – not wanting to submit to a man or rule one – she finds mystery, adventure, romance, and Egyptology when she travels to the Land of the Pharaohs and meets the famous Emerson brothers – Radcliffe, the eldest (called Emerson), an archaeologist, and Walter, the younger, a philologist.

On their way up the Nile in Amelia’s dahabeeyah (a kind of luxury houseboat popular at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth), Amelia and Evelyn stop at Amarna, the former capital of the heretic pharaoh, Akhenaten. Despite the animosity between Emerson and Amelia, Amelia decides to prolong her visit to Amarna after Emerson becomes ill, against Emerson’s wishes (who wants them gone as quickly as possible and does not want Amelia to help run the excavation) and the captain of her dahabeeyah.  Despite Emerson’s reluctance of Amelia’s help, a grudging respect forms between the two of them.

Evelyn’s cousin Lucas appears, bringing news of their grandfather’s death and his inheritance.  With that news, he proposed to Evelyn, promising to keep her in comfort.  Evelyn, torn between her burgeoning affection for Walter and her tarnished past, cannot make a decision.  Shortly after, a strangely undead mummy begins to haunt the archaeological site, scaring the workers and especially Evelyn, whom the mummy is apparently after.  The threat of the mummy not only brings Evelyn and Walter closer, but also draws Emerson and Amelia irrevocably together.

Further romantic entanglements and mysteries make The Crocodile on the Sandbank an exciting and sensational read, much along the lines of Amelia’s favorite author, H. Rider Haggard.  At the end of the book, the mystery and romantic issues resolved, Amelia decides to stay in Egypt and conduct an archaeological expedition of her own, with Emerson at her side – as her husband and advisor.

The Amelia Peabody series consists of, to date, eighteen books, covering the years 1884 to 1923.  The latest installment of the series, A River in the Sky, will be released 4 April 2010.

The Crocodile on the Sandbank is available for purchase at amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

www.ameliapeabody.com