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Dec. 13th, 2015 09:05 amI have been re-reading Elizabeth Peters’ Crocodile on the Sandbank, and enjoying it a great deal. It’s a total “cozy” mystery. In 1884 Miss Amelia Peabody, a plain spinster of 32 living in an English village, unexpectedly comes into a fortune and decides to fulfill her lifelong dreams of seeing the Pyramids. On her way to Egypt she rescues a Fallen Woman, Evelyn Barton-Forbes, and engages Evelyn to be her paid companion. Owing to a complicated sequence of events, they end up invading an archeological dig which is being disrupted by the supposed ghost of a mummy. But Miss Peabody is on the case, armed with her wits, a sharp tongue, and a sturdy steel-tipped parasol.
This is the first in a series of Amelia Peabody mysteries by Peters, and they vary in quality. Some are hilarious and genuinely suspenseful, but with others it seems like Peters is just going through the motions to pick up her paycheque. Crocodile on the Sandbank is one of the better ones. Well worth reading, for anybody who’s in the mood for a frothy mystery with snappy dialogue, guaranteed happy endings for the good guys, and no upsetting gore.
I like cozy mysteries. There is a time for gruelling mysteries that make you cry, like Ruth Rendell’s Simisola or Reginald Hill’s The Wood Beyond, but there is also a time for curling up with a good cozy and knowing that it won’t make you cry.
Cutting for more on this subject:
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Edited to add: for some reason Amazon Canada has hardly any of Peters' books available in paperback. Dispute with HarperCollins, possibly? Chapters Indigo (Canada's other online bookstore) has all of them, so they're definitely not out of print or anything. I realize many people reading this post read on an electronic device, but if you wanted to give a paperback copy to someone as a Christmas present or something (I know sometimes people in our families enjoy a good cozy mystery too), rest assured, not out of print.
This is the first in a series of Amelia Peabody mysteries by Peters, and they vary in quality. Some are hilarious and genuinely suspenseful, but with others it seems like Peters is just going through the motions to pick up her paycheque. Crocodile on the Sandbank is one of the better ones. Well worth reading, for anybody who’s in the mood for a frothy mystery with snappy dialogue, guaranteed happy endings for the good guys, and no upsetting gore.
I like cozy mysteries. There is a time for gruelling mysteries that make you cry, like Ruth Rendell’s Simisola or Reginald Hill’s The Wood Beyond, but there is also a time for curling up with a good cozy and knowing that it won’t make you cry.
Cutting for more on this subject:
( Read more... )
Edited to add: for some reason Amazon Canada has hardly any of Peters' books available in paperback. Dispute with HarperCollins, possibly? Chapters Indigo (Canada's other online bookstore) has all of them, so they're definitely not out of print or anything. I realize many people reading this post read on an electronic device, but if you wanted to give a paperback copy to someone as a Christmas present or something (I know sometimes people in our families enjoy a good cozy mystery too), rest assured, not out of print.
