Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

I often wonder why I don't love the rest of the series as much as I love this book (other people love ALL the books) but I think the crux of this one for me was the added "love story" between Amelia and Emerson. I mean, here's this thirty-two-year-old spinster who's got some money and some freedom for the first time in her life. She's more practical and headstrong than most of the women in her time period. Who else would pick up an obviously starving young woman off the streets and decide to keep her? Evelyn turns out to be a wonderful acquisition, fallen woman though she is, but it's still an unexpected event. For anyone other than Amelia Peabody. And then there's her love of Egypt. It's not just because the country is popular. No. Amelia is really interested in the past and her love of languages interests even the irascible Radcliffe Emerson. Yes, he yells at everyone, including her, but digging up the past is serious work and he believes that no one can do it like him. Throw in a mysterious mummy and you've really got some issues for him to deal with.

Great book, totally worth reading and re-reading. And listening to.

Four and a half stars

Followed by The Curse of the Pharoahs

This book came out in 1975

Borrowed as audiobook from Overdrive

Opinions are my own

Fries and Alibis by Trixie Silvertale

 Mitzi Moon is an orphan but one who just received an unexpected inheritance, a bookstore in a small town she's never heard of. This part of her family had never contacted her before but, what the heck, her life sort of sucks right now so why not get out? And she makes a super positive first impression in town... first the sheriff tries to roust her because he thinks she's a vagrant and then, when he trips, she falls on top of him. Plus there's a body that shows up behind her new building which turns out to have a mysterious connection to Mitzi and her grandmother's ghost... life gets weird fast.
Mitzi is somewhat brash, especially in her own head which we get to hear. The narrator really gets into this role adding a ton of sounds and energy that adds to this feeling about Mitzi. The story ended up being a little fractured but a fun story all the same. 

Three stars

Followed by Tattoos and Clues

This book came out July 30th, 2019

Borrowed as audiobook from RB Digital

Opinions are my own

Love Lies by Amanda Lamb

I really think that narrator Chloe Cannon is what made this a four-star read for me. Lamb is a good writer but there are a lot of details and phrases that are repeated that would have become annoying had I been reading the book in print rather than listening to it.It sort of let me skim over the repetitions.
A woman disappears while jogging in North Carolina. The spouse is always the first suspect and in this case, it's no different. Lamb had a peripheral relationship with the victim and (while it's not explicitly said) that seems to be what has her following this case so closely. We get lists of evidence as well as long transcripts about events around her death and the trials afterward.

Four stars
This book came out December 6th, 2011
Borrowed this as an audibook from the library
Opinions are my own