EATER OF SOULS

When the boy pharaoh Tutankhamen wants to know who poisoned Nefertiti, Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, Tutankhamen's heretic predecessor on the Egyptian throne, he naturally turns to Lord Meren, his Eyes and Ears. But Meren, just as zealous as his king to root out the mystery behind Nefertiti's death, has his hands full already with a brutal series of killings in Memphis. The victims—an inoffensive farmer, a tavern woman, a thief—don't seem to have anything to do with each other—except that they've all been stunned, slashed and hacked to death with razor-sharp claws, and relieved of their hearts. A terrified witness identifies the killer by her crocodile head, lion's paws, and hippo's hindquarters as the goddess Ammut, the Devouress, Eater of the Dead, against whom there can be no remedy. But when Prince Mugallu, the quarrelsome Hittite king's emissary, becomes the latest victim, Meren finds himself with a potential diplomatic disaster—just at the time that he's trying to repel Lord Reshep, the fawning, narcissistic suitor who's attached himself to Meren's willing daughter Isis. (Now why doesn't the Devouress dispatch him?) Lord Meren's fourth case (Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing, 1996, etc.) taxes all his skills as investigator, statesman, warrior, householder, and father, while displaying his author's powers of invention and intrigue at their peak—and still leaving plenty of mystery for two promised sequels on Nefertiti's murder. (Mystery Guild featured alternate)