Have you read the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters? Peters (real name Barbara Mertz, under which she's written some great accessible scholarly works) is an Egyptologist, and writes wonderful adventure romps with her Victorian archaeologist heroine. They're gloriously implausible and so much fun. I think there are about 20 books in the series now, and the cast of characters just keeps growing, the world keeps getting bigger, and she tackles the real political issues of the time.

Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first in the series, although you can pick it up reasonably well from any of the first 5 or so books - I started with #4 and was completely hooked :D