The indomitable Amelia Peabody and her husband, known to many as "the Father of Curses", are into archaeology and mischief again. This third in the series brings the reader once more into Egypt and the shady world of black market antiquities.
The winter excavation season has hardly yet begun when Amelia stumbles onto what looks suspiciously like a ring of thieves. Amelia's not the type to take no for an answer, and pretty soon the Emerson family (Master Ramses, a prodigious young intellect is joining his parents for the first time) is tracking down a character known only as The Master Criminal. Or is the Master Criminal tracking them?