Soho Press
Published April 1, 2025
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Have you ever been to Karachi? You will feel as if you have once you put this mystery down. That’s one of the delights of this engaging, eventful mystery.
Dr. Gul Delani, an archeologist trained in Egypt, has returned home to Pakistan to work at Karachi’s Museum of Heritage and History – and to search for her niece, Mahnaz, who has been missing for three years. When she’s wakened by a phone call from the police in the middle of the night, she assumes they have news, but instead, she’s being called to a crime scene. A drug raid in remote Balochistan has uncovered something unusual in a cave: a well-preserved mummy in an elaborately decorated sarcophagus. They need an expert to advise them on how to handle it, and whether it’s authentic.
Gul quickly realizes it could be an important find: the remains of a woman who may provide a key link between ancient Egypt and Persepolis. If it is the remains of an ancient warrior queen, it will illuminate a long-forgotten aspect of Pakistan’s history. Or could it be a clever fake? She must get it moved to the museum quickly to protect it from the elements – and from the drug kingpin who evaded the police raid and seems determined to recover it.
As Gul rushes to preserve the artifact and research its origins with the help of her eccentric team of interns and a specialist from England, she has to fend off an interfering superior and corrupt elements of the police force. But her missing niece is never far from her mind, especially when it seems her investigation into the origins of the mummy is tracing the same path her niece took before her disappearance. What had her niece uncovered, and did it lead to violence?
Gul is a whirlwind of passionate curiosity, and she refuses to be intimidated as she pursues her quest to study the mummy and find out what happened to Mahnaz. Both quests take her from one hair-raising adventure after another, but the plot proceeds without sacrificing complex characters and a vividly-rendered setting.
Based on an actual scandal, it’s a rousing start to a new series with a memorable protagonist.