This is the second book in author Pam Lecky’s Lucy Lawrence Mystery series. I enjoyed the first one, which I received as an advance reader copy, so much that I want to continue the series. I was also given the fourth book in the series to read but I wanted to make sure I read the two in between before reading that one as well.

Footprints in the Sand takes place several months after the events in No Stone Unturned. The heroine of that story, Lucy Lawrence is off visiting Europe with her maid. The ending of the previous book made it sound like she was using most of the reward money to reimburse people her late husband had cheated. However, it seems that there is enough left over that Lucy is now a wealthy woman in her own right. In France, she meets a renowned Egyptologist, Armand Moreau. Moreau charms her with his stories of riches to be found at archaeological digs in Egypt. Lucy agrees to fund part of his dig for the season and follows him to Egypt.

There she finds intrigue among the archaeologists competing to dig for buried tombs. In particular, there is a rivalry between Moreau and British archeologist Reginald Hutchinson. The dig sites are being decided in a lottery system by M. Joubert, the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, to try to alleviate claims of bias. Everything does not go as planned, though, and Lucy soon finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.

The main thing missing from Footprints in the Sand is the romantic flirting between Lucy and Phineas Stone. Moreau does represent a bit of a love interest for her, but it’s hard to take it seriously with Phineas still somewhere in the wings. I kept expecting him to show up, but he didn’t. This is strictly a Lucy book. In the first book of the series, her motivation to investigate was that she was caught up in the investigation. Here, she is somewhat of a socialite who is more on the outside looking in. She’s in an unfamiliar place with a different culture than she is used to. Instead of allowing the police to do their job and investigate several crimes that occur during the course of the book, Lucy continually takes matters into her own hands.

The descriptions of Egypt were well done. This takes place in the late 1800s, so there was not as much sprawl in Giza as there is now. Lucy manages to visit places that are now shut off to tourists, and the author manages to make me feel like I’m right there with her. Mary, Lucy’s maid, is a bit of the voice of reason at times. She was all for adventure when they were in London, but in this very different world, she’s more nervous about what could happen to them.

Overall, the mystery is good. It’s well-crafted with plenty of intrigue. There is so much pressure on the archeologists to get funding, and then they contend with theft of what they find. It seems there is a large black market in Egypt for the antiquities that are discovered. Personalities also clash, and Lucy learns a lot about the man she has agreed to fund for part of the season. Most of the time I felt like Lucy was in over her head and more like the woman she was at the beginning of No Stone Unturned rather than at the end. Yes, she loves the thrill of the investigation, but that should be a bit tempered by the danger of the situation, especially in a strange country where she doesn’t know anyone.

With the completely new setting, I think Footprints in the Sand can stand on its own without having to read the other books in the series, but I didn’t like it as much as I did the first one. It was good, and the mystery really kept me guessing until the end. However, with Phineas not around it leaves her with little support and makes it hard to cheer for her when she should be more cautious. It sounds like he will be back for the next book, so I’ll give the series a chance at least through the fourth book.

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