Return once again with New York Times bestselling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters to a remarkable land of mystery, where murderous intrigues swirl in the Egyptian desert wind . . . The Great War has ended and archaeologist Amelia Peabody welcomes the advent of a season of joy that marks a time of new beginnings, with delightful additions to the Emerson family.

But evil still casts a shadow over this violence-scarred land. The theft of valuable antiquities from the home of a friend causes great concern for the Emersons. And the brutal death of the suspected thief washes the affair in blood.

With members of her circle plagued by mysterious "accidents," Amelia must connect these threads into a recognizable pattern. Will her investigation set her on a collision course with an adversary more fiendish than any she has ever before encountered? Elizabeth Peters was born in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute.