It sounds like the chance of a lifetime, to explore the tomb of an ancient Egyptian nobleman and live in an expedition house with other scientists. All expenses paid, and her name on a paper sure to be published in a prestigious journal. But when her housemates start turning up dead, all under unpleasant circumstances, Lacy Glass has reason to suspect she’s next. Lacy is a botanist, a pigment specialist, recruited to analyze the paint on the walls and the dyes in the linen found in the tomb. Altogether, nine specialists share the house on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, but Lacy isn't sure she can trust any of them. The first to die is her best friend, her mentor, and the only housemate she knows well enough to trust. These housemates include a cook who believes she's the pharaoh Hatshepsut's daughter, an ex-pat American botanist, an overbearing team leader, and a surfeit of scorpions.

Dr. Lacy Glass is traveling by rail to an archaeological dig in central Turkey when she sees a man she befriended hours earlier fly past the window of the train. Dead. If not for her, he wouldn't have even been on the train so she feels responsible. When she arrives at the dig she learns that the dig's backer, a wealthy American, has died there that same morning. Problem? Both men seem to have been named Maxwell Sebring.