Vicky Bliss, peerless art historian and sleuth, searches for solutions to more than one heinous offense in the ever-shifting sands of Egypt's mysterious Valley of the Kings. When her longtime significant other, John Tregarth, the suave and dangerously charming international art thief, is accused of taking a world-famous, one-of-a-kind historic relic, it is up to Bliss to clear his name.

In Cairo, private investigator Makana is called into the office of his new client, a powerful art dealer known as Kasabian. Kasabian wants him to track down a famous painting that went missing from Baghdad during the US invasion. All the dealer can tell Makana is that the piece was smuggled into Egypt by an Iraqi war criminal who doesn't want to be found. The world of art is a far cry from the shady streets and alleyways of the Cairo that Makana knows,...