Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly entertaining
Review: Here is your first introduction to that premier female sleuth, Ameila Peabody. Written in the first person, we see through Peabody's eyes and follow her adventures as she lives life in the Victorian era on her terms. Peabody is wry, dignified, determined, adventurous, curious, intelligent, and above all humorous! Peters writes with an uncanny knack of capturing Peabody's frame of mind, while still making you laugh as you see the reality of the situation surrounding her characters. "Crocodile" is a delightful start to a wonderful series of books, all classics ... and they only improve with re-readings!
Rating: 
Summary: Pompous and arrogant
Review: I had high hopes for this book, as it had come strongly recommended to me. What a disappointment! I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters, who struck me as either overbearing bulldozers or understated doormats. Peters' knowledge of Egyptology is indeed impressive and definitely the only enjoyable part of this book. But for the mystery itself: by the time I was halfway through, the solution was so obvious to me that the perpetrators may as well have been announcing their intentions on a microphone. I was relieved when it was over.
Rating:
Summary: Hooray for Peabody!
Review: What an enjoyable book this has been! Victorian Egyptology mysteries do not normally crowd my bookshelves. But I shall certainly have to remedy that. I was quite impressed with Elizabeth Peters ability to toss in some of her vast knowledge in the field of Egyptology without showing off in the process. But most of all, I enjoyed the fact that the story was not only an exciting mystery, but the characters were as developed and intricately woven as the plot. From good humored and strong willed Amelia and the lovely and ever loyal Evelyn, to Emerson, who could scrub kitchen pots with his demeanor. In short, there was not one boring spot in the whole of the book, and I highly recomend it to anyone with an adventurous spirit.
Rating:
Summary: perfect for a cold, rainy day
Review: I discoverd Elizabeth Peters in college, and found she, above all others had the power to distract my mind from the
"great literature" and academia I was immersed in, without
offending my intelligence. Crocodile in the Sandbank was the
first of her books I read, and the strength of the characters,
the wit and intelligence of the writing made me instantly
obsessed. Between Amelia Peabody (ever so Victorian, yet a militantly liberated woman) and Emmerson (big and burly, "father
of curses," tender only to a sarcophagus), boredom is impossible.
I own all the books in this series; they only get better--wait
'til you meet Ramses!
Rating:
Summary: A charming, witty, period mystery.
Review: Crocodile on the Sandbank is a delightful mystery set in Egypt in the late 1800s.
The heroine is smart, opinionated, rich, eccentric, and far from an ingenue; she becomes involved with a girl of questionable past and two archeologist brothers.
The book, written by a real-life Egyptologist, imparts information with a light hand,
enhancing the well-written plot. The characters are the real gem, though; this book
started a series that's now going strong at about seven books. It's fun, it's funny,
it's well-paced.
Rating:
Summary: Completely fun!
Review: I am always wanting new, entertaining books to read. So, when a friend recommended Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries (starting with "Crocodile on the Sandbank"), I jumped right in.As someone else pointed out, the mystery aspect of Crocodile on the Sandbank is not the strongest part of this novel. (Don't be surprise if you guess the purpose and identity of the stalking mummy well before it is revealed.) In every other way, this book is excellent. The characters, plot and description are delightfully entertaining. Amelia Peabody, a Victorian-era spinster of means, embarks for a tour of Egypt. But first, while in Rome, she encounters Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who has been "ruined" by her former lover. Amelia insists that Evelyn accompany her. Once in Egypt, they meet Radcliffe and Walter Emerson. These four characters are incredible. They have strong personalities without becoming two-dimensional characatures. The way Amelia and Evelyn relate is touching, and the way Amelia and Emerson play off eachother is classic. I don't know much about ancient Egypt, but Elizabeth Peters provides so much fascinating description. She really seems to know what she's talking about. (In fact, she got a Ph.D. in Egyptology.) Crocodile on the Sandbank made me want to know more about Egyptology and archaeology. It certainly made me want to read more of the beautiful descriptions and wonderfully drawn characters.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little bit of Victorian Egypt.
Review: This book is our introduction to the world of Amelia Peabody and and her adventures in Egypt during the Victorian age. Ms. Peters has a fine sense of time and place, and her descriptions of Egyptian antiquities as they would have appeared in the 19th century are quite realistic and accurate. We also get to meet the irascible Amelia Peabody. She is actually very funny, and nothing more so than her frequent diatribes about the strictures placed on women at this time in history. The book does get a bit melodramatic with star-crossed lovers and threatening mummies, and the mystery is quite easy to figure out. But in spite of that, it's a pretty good read, and serves as a good introduction to Amelia's world.
Rating:
Summary: One of my Favorite Books
Review: In this novel, the first of a series, adventureous Amelia Peabody decides to travel the world after inheriting a nice sum of money at the death of her father. Amelia hires Evelyn Forbes, whom she found fainting in the streets of Rome, as a companion. Evelyn, a beautiful gentlewoman, was abandoned by her lover, Alberto and forever "ruined".
The two women head to Eygpt and being to sail up the Nile. They soon meet the Emerson brothers, sweet Walter and hot-tempered, handsome Radcliffe. Walter imediately becomes smitten with Evelyn and she with him. Radcliffe imediately dislikes Amelia seeing her as "the rampageous British female at her clumsiest and most arrogant". Amelia returns the sentiment seeing Mr. Emerson as "the lordly British male at his loudest and most bad-mannered".
Soon after meeting the Emersons, Evelyn's lover reappears, wanting her back. Evelyn's cousin, Lord Lucas Ellesmere, also appears, begging Evelyn to marry him.
After declining both men's offers, strange events, including a walking mummy, occur and all seemed to be aimed at Evelyn. The two women soon ally themselves with the Emerson brothers.
Rating:
Summary: For the Egyptophile
Review: The primary requirement of the fiction writer is to take the reader away and convince him or her that the new setting has a certain reality. This is true of every genre, sci-fi, western, mystery, romance.... Elizabeth Peters does an absolutely remarkable job of that in this novel. Granted, I have a positive predisposition for books set along the Nile; nonetheless this one is outstanding.
The plot and mystery might be described as so-so, but the characters and the ambience of Egyption archaeology in Victorian times are perfect. The strange romance between Peabody and Emerson is certainly not of the standard variety. The tombs, the sand, the pyramids, the terrace at Shepheard's...they are enough to carry one away.
I've now read the first four in this Amelia Peabody series and so far have found them all to be most convincing.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable
Review: this book was way off from what I would normally read, but in the end I found it as a rather enjoyable tale.
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