After a long courtship, Claire Malloy--Arkansas bookseller and widowed mother--has finally said "I do" to her swain, Lt. Peter Rosen. Now they are on their honeymoon in Luxor, Egypt. Well, Claire is on her honeymoon--accompanied by Caron, her teenaged daughter, and Inez, Caron's best friend and frequent partner in adventure. Peter is mostly away on various mysterious consultations with equally mysterious government agencies for his new mysterious job. Claire is intent on a quiet, uneventful honeymoon, but things go from bucolic to creepy, when Caron and Inez are chased through darkened deserted alleys by persons unknown, and a student of their acquaintance is kidnapped by two young men on horseback in a scene reminiscent of a Valentino film. Something is clearly afoot in this tourist paradise, and Claire will stop at nothing to find out what it is.

Joan Hess is the author of both the Claire Malloy and the Maggody mystery series. She is a winner of the American Mystery Award, a member of Sisters in Crime, and a former president of the American Crime Writers League. She lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.