Amelia Peabody is first introduced in the novel "Crocodile on the Sandbank", set in 1884. She is the spinster daughter of a reclusive scholar who left her to deal with practical issues such as shopping and administering the household while he spent time in his office. He nurtured her scholarly interest, while the rest of her immediate family dismissed them both. Following his death, Peabody's devotion to her father was rewarded with her being named sole beneficiary of his substantial fortune of over £500,000 (over £30 million in 2006 values). Partly in order to escape the attention of numerous fortune-hunting suitors and relatives begging for money, she embarks on a tour of classical sites, beginning in Italy and moving on to Egypt with the eventual aim of visiting Palestine. While in Rome, she rescues a young woman in trouble, Evelyn Barton Forbes, whom she hires to be her companion.