Other editions of book Crocodile on the Sandbank

Amelia Peabody, that indomitable product of the Victorian age, embarks on her first Egyptian adventure armed with unshakable self-confidence, a journal to record her thoughts, and, of course, a sturdy umbrella. On her way, Amelia rescues young Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who has been “ruined” and abandoned on the streets of Rome by her rascally lover. With a typical disregard for convention, Amelia promptly hires her fellow countrywoman as a companion and takes her to Cairo. Eluding Alberto, Evelyn’s former lover, who wants her back, and Evelyn’s cousin Lord Ellesmere, who wishes to marry her, the two women sail up the Nile. They disembark at an archaeological site run by the Emerson brothers—the irascible, but dashing, Radcliffe and the amiable Walter. Soon their little party is increased by one—one mummy, that is, and a singularly lively example of the species. Strange visitations, suspicious accidents, and a botched kidnapping convince Amelia that there is a plot afoot to harm Evelyn. But no villain, or mummy, is a match for the doughty Amelia. How she arranges all to her satisfaction is just one of the pleasures of this delightfully witty mystery.

Amelia Peabody, 32-year-old Victorian gentlewoman, inherited two things from her father: a considerble fortune and an unbendable will. The first was indispensible in allowing her to indulge in her life's passion: Egyptology. Without the second, the mummy's curse would have made corpses of them all. Promptly upon her father's death, Amelia takes ship for Cairo but her companion, Miss Pritchertt, succumbs to typhoid in Rome - weakminded female that she is. That's just when an unexpected distraction drops, more or less, at Amelia's feet. What happens next makes for a delicious mystery and pyramids of fun. "Amelia is too funny to resist" St. Louis Post-Dispatch