Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody #1) - Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels is one of my all time favorite authors.  She also has written nonfiction books as Barbara Mertz.  I have most of her books in DTB form.  I was made aware of a deal of getting an omnibus of the Amelia Peabody series where the first four books were a little over a dollar.  I snatched that right up!  A chance to replace 4 of my print books was too good to pass up.  I believe that it was a mistake on amazon's part, as there is no pricing information on it now.  Regardless, I now have the first four in the series and read the first one again.

Amelia Peabody is traveling the world now that she has the money her father left her.  She is not at all deceived about the number of suitors that are coming out of the woodwork asking for her hand in marriage.  As she states, she has always known that she is plain.  She comes upon a young woman Evelyn,  in the streets of Rome and ends up hiring her as her new companion.

Evelyn is distressed about her life.  She has left her grandfather and been seduced by the man that she thought was in love with her.  He has left penniless and alone.  She tells Amelia her story, believing that it will force Amelia to retract her offer.  On the contrary, Amelia passes no judgement, and begins to ask questions to satisfy her curiosity.

Walter and Emerson are archaeologists working in Egypt.  Emerson has a terrible temper and makes quite an impression when they meet the ladies for the first time at the British Museum.  Both Amelia and Emerson have unusual personalities and are not exactly drawn to one another in the usual way.  When Amelia visits the men on her trip of the Nile, she finds that Emerson has a fever and needs her medical expertise.


As Emerson recovers, there is an unwanted visitor in the form of a walking, moaning mummy.  Accidents start to occur and Evelyn's cousin arrives to pursue Evelyn for his wife.  As Walter and Evelyn are in love, Amelia does what she can to discourage the one and encourage the other.  The mummy starts to get more violent and the group must work together and have one of Amelia's famous 'councils of war.'  They need to capture the mummy and solve the mystery.


I really love this book.  Emerson is basically a heathen, so there is some mild language in there.  An allusion here or there to sex that even I don't blush at.  I think this is the 3rd time I have read the book and enjoy it every time.  The author writes the story from Amelia's point of view.  There are 18 books in this series.  I have to say that I like the earlier ones the most, I thought that the story seemed forced in the later ones and the characters were acting in ways that I didn't approve of.  Regardless of my feelings on the later books, I heartily give this one a Good Book! review.