Spoiler warning! This is book three in a series, and as such, this review may spoil details from the two earlier books. If you want to start at the beginning, A Curious Beginning is the first book.
Veronica Speedwell and her colleague and sometime partner in crime-solving, Stoker (Revelstoke Templeton-Vane) are alerted to the fact that Stoker may well come under public scrutiny in a criminal case. John de Morgan, Stoker’s former best friend and one time expedition partner, the man who ended up marrying Stoker’s ex-wife after a very public scandal, has disappeared without a trace, along with a very valuable jewelled crown from an Egyptian tomb. Having worked as photographer on Sir Leicester Tiverton’s recent and very archaeological expedition, de Morgan and his wife left abruptly and are believed to have stolen the artifact, but according to the police, the morning after the de Morgan’s arrival in Dover, John de Morgan was gone, the room his wife claimed he had stayed in seems never to have existed and Mrs. de Morgan (formerly Mrs. Templeton-Vane) was left in a hysterical state, refusing to speak to investigators any longer.
To clear Stoker of any suspicion in the public’s eyes, Veronica and Stoker need to locate John de Morgan, which means questioning all the other members of the Tiverton expedition, as well as anyone else who may have wanted to sabotage their work somehow. It means Stoker has to face his ex-wife Caroline again, as well as his less than amicable former parents-in-law. There is rumoured to be a curse hanging over the Tiverton expedition, which both of our intrepid investigators naturally ignore – but it’s difficult to explain why and how the god Anubis himself keeps appearing on the streets of London.
Full review on my blog.