A review by paperpaladin
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

A period piece mystery that takes place in Egypt. Going into this book, I knew a little about outside of a friend's recommendation that it is a fun female lead mystery in Egypt. So when I started reading I was a little surprised to find out that the story is set in the 1880s. There is a good amount of time setting up the characters and then getting to the place where the mystery happens. Without getting too much into spoilers, a mummy starts appearing at the dig site of the Emerson brothers who are acquaintances of Amelia and her traveling companion. All things said and done the mystery is service-able. I was not shocked by anything in it really. Everything is tied up neatly at the end which I did find a bit surprising since this is the first of a 20 book series.

All those things combined would not however lead me to giving this book such a low score. What really made this book bad in my opinion is the large amounts of racism in it. They spend a lot of time looking down on and saying unkind things about Egyptians. This is made worse be the proclamations of the English bringing civilization and culture to them. It is just a lot to stomach.  There is some sexism as well but Amelia was so competent that everyone had to respect her and it did not feel too jarring.

Overall a fine book but I do not intend to read more of the series since I would like a fun mystery without the racism.
 
My rating system
1 - Did not enjoy
2 - Not irredeemable but has too many flaws to say I enjoyed
3 - Enjoyed it
4 - Great book but didn't love it
5 - Amazing book 
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