Convinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the kings, Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Emerson has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights. But Emerson's trickery has backfired, and his insistent interest in the site has made his rivals all the more determined to keep the Emerson clan away.

Amelia and her husband Emerson are on the brink of one of the greatest archaeological finds in history--the tomb of King Tut. But the path to discovery is strewn with dangers, and Emerson's half brother Sethos might be more involved than he admits.

Amelia and her husband Emerson are on the brink of one of the greatest archaeological finds in history--the tomb of King Tut. But the path to discovery is strewn with dangers, and Emerson's halfbrother Sethos might be more involved than he admits.

Amelia and her husband Emerson are on the brink of one of the greatest archaeological finds in history--the tomb of King Tut. But the path to discovery is strewn with dangers, and Emerson's halfbrother Sethos might be more involved than he admits.

In New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Peters's eagerly anticipated Amelia Peabody adventure, the Emerson clan is a hairsbreadth away from unearthing the legendary site they've been searching for. But a sinister plot and a dark family secret stand in the way of their ultimate ambition and threaten to change things forever. Convinced that the tomb of the little-known king Tutankhamon lies somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson and his wife, Amelia Peabody, seem to have hit a wall. Emerson has tried desperately to persuade Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to relinquish their digging rights. But Emerson's trickery has backfired, and his insistent interest in the site has made his rivals all the more determined to keep the Emerson clan away.

In 1922, as her husband Radcliffe Emerson unsuccessfully tries to persuade his rival Howard Carter to turn over digging rights in the Valley of the Kings to him, Amelia Peabody and her family head for Luxor to search for the long-lost tomb of King Tut.