March 1923. George Herbert, Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, lies dying in Cairo. Most of the world believes King Tut's mummy has cursed him, for entering the boy-king's tomb just three months previous. But the earl's daughter, Lady Evelyn, suspects a more tangible suspect is killing her father. So she sends for Sherlock Holmes. Arriving in Egypt, Holmes is thrust into a maelstrom of jealousies and competing claims. He quickly learns the good earl was hated by journalists, Muslim Brotherhood nationalists, Egypt's king, Britain's high commissioner, and competing archeological teams. The murder of the earl's chambermaid outside his very door heightens the urgency of Holmes' task. But it is his examination of King Tut's tomb, and particularly the stunning ivory box the earl covertly removed from there, that permits Holmes to uncover a riveting and deadly drama that determined the fate of King Tut in Egypt's ancient past, as well as the death of Lord Carnarvon three thousand years later.