In a very different San Francisco, a detective and her chef boyfriend follow the money amidst gangsters who really don't want them to find it.

Cheryl MacIntyre derails her career as a homicide detective when she tries to help her friend Henutsenu, accused of murder by the religious authorities in the Temple of Bastet. In Menmenet, the temples take precedence over the cops, much to MacIntyre's frustration.

Shesmu, her boyfriend, wins the Best New Chef award from the Menmenet R'ames Society, but when he tries to collect his money, he uncovers a massive money laundering scheme. Then the Henet Baket agents step in to accuse Shesmu of involvement in tax evasion and money laundering.

The two cases merge as the pair follow the money and put their careers in danger as a result. Then the real problems start: Russian gangsters bomb Shesmu's restaurant, while an Aztec crime lord insists that MacIntyre help him stave off Russian encroachment from Russkaya Amerika and the Temple of Bastet threatens to execute Henutsenu. Staying out of jail turns to just staying alive when gangsters, money-laundering financiers, and corrupt police stage attacks on the pair to stymie their pursuit of ma'at.

The second novel in the Menmenet trilogy of alternate history mysteries, The Lion of Bastet tells a story of corruption and murder in Menmenet, the capital city of the Ta'an-Imenty Republic, a country on the West Coast of North America colonized by the Egyptian Empire in the 18th century.