Crocodile on the Sandbank
The Amelia Peabody series, Book 1
Elizabeth Peters
Grand Central Publishing
Fiction, Adventure/Historical Fiction/Mystery/Thriller
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Amelia Peabody is a woman who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to express it, which does not make her particularly popular in the social circles of 1880's England, but she's never much cared what others think of her. What she does care about is history, thanks to her late father; now that he has passed and left his fortune to her, she intends to travel to all the places she read about in his library, the ancient wonders of the classical world. She does care enough about propriety to bring along a companion - unconventional as she is, she knows it would only invite trouble to travel alone - but illness sends the woman packing just as they reach Rome, leaving Amelia in a pinch. Then she happens upon Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young lady in need of a companion herself after some terrible turns of fate left her stranded and penniless in a foreign land. Together, the two set sail for Cairo, to spend some months traveling up the Nile... but their plans are about to be interrupted by a persistent suitor, a pair of archaeologist brothers, a newly-discovered city and tombs attributed to a heretical king... and what may possibly be an ancient curse walking the desert.
REVIEW: First published in 1975, Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first entry in a popular series about Victorian-era amateur archaeologist Amelia Peabody, consciously drawing on old-school adventure tales of lost tombs and cursed mummies and tangled, borderline convoluted and occasionally unbelievable, villainous plots. Even given the stories that it intentionally mimics, though, there are aspects that don't age that well, aspects that I'm not sure were deliberate "homage" or not. The white Egyptologist claiming ownership and mastery of another culture's artifacts and heritage is not quite such a romantic image these days, and though characters give some lip service to how Egypt's treasures are being mismanaged, it comes across more as a beef between the French and the English, with Egyptians themselves dismissed from the equation as not worth mentioning. There's also the worn-out trope of the fainting, helpless lady (not Amelia, usually, but Evelyn could've used a portable fainting couch to soften the landing of her swoons) whose only purpose or goal is marriage; even Amelia, who declares herself above such "outdated" concepts as marriage and claims to be quite happy as a "spinster" in her thirties, gets so caught up in her companion's marriage prospects and potential mates that it's clear she's not telling the reader the whole truth of her mind on the matter. And, of course, the man who - right out of the gate - verbally abuses Amelia and has a particular hatred for her gender and very existence... if you're following along on the trope bingo card, not many surprises there. Other players aren't exactly unique characters, either, and wouldn't be out of place in one of those old adventure tales that Peters references, for all that there's a certain charm to their overblown nature, and the same could be said about the rather convoluted plot that's eventually exposed after causing no end of trouble on the seemingly-cursed dig site. Along the way, the setting of Victorian-era Egypt is a richly detailed backdrop, if one necessarily viewed through an Englishwoman's lens (both the character and the writer) and with a romanticized rosy tint. There's adventure and intrigue and ancient wonders and, of course, some heavy-handed romance (and the requisite failures of communication and stiff-upper-lip English propriety that nearly scuttles the whole prospect). The mystery, though, just plain doesn't make sense in anything like reality; one has to suspend disbelief and accept that the world of Amelia Peabody has more akin to the world of old, over-the-top adventure stories and movies than our own Earth to begin to believe it, and not poke too hard lest the logic crumble like old mummy wrappings. Some of the casually racist descriptions and assumptions also got a bit of a side-eye; some went beyond the narrator Amelia being "in character", and while I know that judging older stories by modern standards is a losing game, I'm reading it now, not in 1975, and these things stand out. After a somewhat overblown climax, complete with a monologuing villain helpfully explaining the details of the story to their victims, there's an epilogue to wrap things up, in a way that doesn't necessitate a sequel (though of course there are more books - twenty total, according to Amazon).
While there are doubtless some faults in this story, and it's not as fresh as it must've been when originally published, Crocodile on the Sandbank does at least deliver on its promise of old-school Victorianesque adventure and romance amongst the lost world of old Egypt, with some larger than life (if sometimes too familiar) characters and a fair bit of action. I just found a few too many things bugging me, most particularly about the "mystery" story and some overused tropes, to justify a solid four stars.
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