The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody,
her dashing Egyptologist husband, Emerson, and their wild and precocious
eight-year-old son, Ramses. The much-coveted burial chamber of the Black
Pyramid in Dahshoor is theirs for the digging. But there is a great evil
in the wind that roils the hot sands sweeping through the bustling
streets and marketplaces of Cairo. The brazen moonlight abduction of
Ramses--and an expedition subsequently cursed by misfortune and
death--have alerted Amelia to the likely presence of her arch nemesis
the Master Criminal, notorious looter of the living and the dead. But it
is far more than ill-gotten riches that motivates the evil genius this
time around. For now the most valuable and elusive prize of all is
nearly in his grasp: the meddling lady archaeologist who has sworn to
deliver him to justice . . . Amelia Peabody!