"And death shall come on soft wings to him that touches the tomb of the Pharaoh..."

Archaeologist Howard Carter has made the discovery of the century in Egypt's Valley of the Kings - the tomb of King Tut. But all around him men are dying: Lord Carnavon, careless with his razor, falls prey to a mosquito bite; Alan le Clerk leaves the tomb in a hurry to die alone in the desert; Aaron G. String, the railroad magnate, blows his brains out just yards from the tomb's entrance.

And so it is that retired Chief Superintendent Sholto Lestrade is summoned back to duty. Lestrade flies to Egypt to solve a riddle every bit as impenetrable as that of the Sphinx. People remark on the funny geezer, in his bowler and Donegal coat, battling against sand, Egyptians in revolt, and the Curse of the Pharaohs...

But can he avoid the Kiss of Horus?