Read an excerpt

Also available in audio cassette, audio cd, large print and e-book

Return once again with New York Times bestselling Grandmaster Elizabeth Peters to a remarkable land of mystery, deception, and danger, where murderous intrigues swirl in the desert wind.

The Great War has ended at last. No longer must archaeologist Amelia Peabody and her husband Emerson, the distinguished Egyptologist, fear for the life of their daring son Ramses, now free from his dangerous wartime obligations to British Intelligence. The advent of a season of joy and peace marks a time of new beginnings in Luxor, with delightful new additions to the growing Emerson family and new wonders waiting to be discovered beneath the shifting Egyptian sands.

But in the aftermath of conflict, evil still casts a cold shadow over this violence-scarred land. The theft of valuable antiquities from the home of a friend -- including a magnificent gold bracelet adorned with the image of the goddess Hathor -- causes great concern in the Emerson household. Ramses's strange encounter with a woman costumed in the veil and gold crown of Hathor herself only deepens the mystery. And the brutal death of the suspected thief washes the unsettling affair in blood.

With those in her circle suddenly plagued by a series of mysterious "accidents," Amelia feels it is her duty to connect these troubling threads into a recognizable pattern. But her investigation is setting her on a terrifying collision course with an adversary more fiendish and formidable than any she has ever encountered. And in her zeal to make things right, the indomitable Amelia may be feeding the flames of a devastating firestorm that threatens the fragile lives of the tender and innocent.

In her fifteenth glorious excursion to Egypt in an earlier century, the remarkable Elizabeth Peters delivers a spellbinding thriller rich in suspense, surprise, atmosphere, adventure, wit, and romance -- all the elements that have made her a favorite of readers from coast-to-coast and around the world.

Reviews
"A fast moving, intrigue-filled plot . . . expect another run up bestseller lists." --Publishers Weekly

March 2004
mass market paperback
$7.50
ISBN: 0061032484

April 2003
hardcover, 416 pages
$25.95US
ISBN: 0066214769