Mummies, Parasols, and Cucumber Sandwiches

Crocodile On The Sandbank

By Elizabeth Peters

This is the first book in a favorite series of mine. You can't read all the books at once and the earlier books are my favorite, but the whole series is worth a read. My favorite way to read this series is actually to listen to the audio book narrated by Barbara Rosenblat.

Set in 1884, the indomitable Amelia Peabody has been left a significant sum of money by her deceased scholarly father. While she enjoys the sudden attention and popularity she never enjoyed in her youth, she finds that it quickly bores her and she has no interest in marrying any of the men who have called on her. So, armed with her faithful parasol, she decides to travel and to see the wonders of the ancient world that her father wrote about.

First stop is Rome, where Amelia rescues young Evelyn Forbes. Seduced and abandoned in a foreign country by a villainous Italian, Amelia immediately takes pity on the girl and endeavors to help her however she can.

Together they set out for Egypt with Evelyn as Amelia's new companion. They begin to sail the Nile with the intention of stopping at various archeological sites, however when they reach Amarna circumstances arise which make it difficult for them to leave.

Radcliff Emerson, a loud, irascible man, who Amelia has clashed with once before, is deathly ill and his amiable brother, Walter, is struggling to keep their archeology site from being destroyed and keeping his brother from working himself to death. Amelia immediately realizes that her helping hand is needed, whether they want it or not. 

All is not going well though, many strange things are happening, including the appearance of a murderous mummy who's target seems to be the lovely Evelyn.

The name of the book comes from an Egyptian love poem which is reproduced in the front of the book:

The love of my beloved is on yonder side
A width of water is between us
And a crocodile waiteth on the sandbank.

Lots of this book, and the series as a whole, is very tongue in cheek and parodies the novels of the times as well as making fun of the stereotypes of the day.

Amelia is well-meaning, but entirely heavy-handed with her kindnesses. A trait that gets her into trouble many times throughout the series. She always carries a parasol with a strong steel tip so that she may jab people with it, if she has the need.

I love this series so much that I'm actually having a hard time not saying too much and limiting myself to what pertains to the first book.

The book is written in a journal form which she has partially rewritten for publication by her heirs. After all, as she comments to her readers, she is sensitive to the fact that certain events may prove embarrassing for certain individuals were they published at the present time.

She often claims (after the fact) to have had 'dire premonitions', a notion that Emerson heartily scoffs at.

There is a romance but this is also mostly a mystery.

It's not necessary to begin with the first in the series to enjoy it. I began with the second book, "The Curse of the Pharaohs", which introduced two of my favorite reoccuring characters: Cyrus Vandergelt, and Kevin O'Connell.

My cats, Bastet and Horus, are named after some of the cats which appear in this series. What literary characters have you named pets/children/videogame characters/etc. after?