A review by nglofile
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
3.0
Current rating: 3.5 stars
ETA: I won't retract my initial review, but I will adjust my rating. I was less impressed with this book upon rereading. I suspect my enjoyment of the main characters masked a realization of fairly thin plotting and a bit of redundancy in dialogue and detail. Still quite entertaining, of course, but it doesn't stand up as well under second scrutiny. (2014)
What a wonderful, wonderful gem of a book. I don't usually choose historical mysteries for myself, but this is much more than that. Prepare yourself to meet one of the most delightful characters in Amelia Peabody. Feisty, strong-willed, charitable of heart, and quick of tongue, she is one whom I would love to have as a best friend. As a bonus, she swings a mean parasol. Who couldn't love this adventuress? (2011)
re-read (audio): June 2014
audiobook note_1: After urging, I revisited parts of this book in audio, and narrator Susan O'Malley is wonderful as the indomitable Amelia. (2011)
audiobook note_2: Perhaps O'Malley's voicing of Amelia is better in small doses. I don't have any other explanation for why my second experience of this was markedly different from my first taste, but this time I found the reading not ideal, perhaps even off-putting. I'm very disappointed. (2014)
ETA: I won't retract my initial review, but I will adjust my rating. I was less impressed with this book upon rereading. I suspect my enjoyment of the main characters masked a realization of fairly thin plotting and a bit of redundancy in dialogue and detail. Still quite entertaining, of course, but it doesn't stand up as well under second scrutiny. (2014)
What a wonderful, wonderful gem of a book. I don't usually choose historical mysteries for myself, but this is much more than that. Prepare yourself to meet one of the most delightful characters in Amelia Peabody. Feisty, strong-willed, charitable of heart, and quick of tongue, she is one whom I would love to have as a best friend. As a bonus, she swings a mean parasol. Who couldn't love this adventuress? (2011)
re-read (audio): June 2014
audiobook note_1: After urging, I revisited parts of this book in audio, and narrator Susan O'Malley is wonderful as the indomitable Amelia. (2011)
audiobook note_2: Perhaps O'Malley's voicing of Amelia is better in small doses. I don't have any other explanation for why my second experience of this was markedly different from my first taste, but this time I found the reading not ideal, perhaps even off-putting. I'm very disappointed. (2014)