This gripping series debut introduces whip-smart Pakistani archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani, whose investigation into the discovery of a mummy gets complicated--and personal--when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member. This gritty crime thriller inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal is perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart.

In the large, diverse, and densely populated city of Karachi, a young girl can vanish and never be found. This, Dr. Gul Delani understands well: It's been three years since her niece, Mahnaz, went missing, and the investigation has been called off. Gul does her best to distract herself through work--she is a talented and trusted archaeologist and museum curator, Pakistan's preeminent Egyptologist--but try as she may to keep her mind on the ancient past, somehow the thought of Mahnaz always sneaks back in.

When Gul receives a call in the middle of the night from the Sindh police, she thinks they may finally have an answer. Instead, Gul is summoned to a narcotics investigation in a remote desert region, many hours away. There, in a cave, they find a mummy--intact, seemingly authentic, its sarcophagus decorated with symbols from the ancient city of Persepolis. Gul is astonished. If it's a genuine archaeological discovery, it will rewrite history.

Taking matters into her own hands, Gul will stop at nothing to authenticate the mummy--even as her quest brings her into the throes of a black-market scramble and a high-level conspiracy--and at last, just maybe, to the truth of what happened to Mahnaz, however difficult it is to face.