Ancient Egypt, 1233 BC
Neti-Kerty’s reputation as Egypt’s first female mummifier has apparently reached all the way to the Pharaoh. Neti-Kerty and Shabaka, Special Investigator and Prefect of Thebes, are astonished to be summoned to the palace of Ramses II to investigate the sudden death of the Vizier Khay. Thanks to her powers of deduction and knowledge of the dead, Neti soon determines that something is amiss.
As more people disappear during the investigation, the situation increasingly gets out of hands and before long Neti and Shabaka find themselves peering into the deepest recesses of the human soul....
Princess of Egypt returns us to a land steeped in gods, god-kings, ritual and magic. It paints for the reader a detailed picture of Pharaonic Egypt in all its shadowed glory. Faithfully recreating one of the most remarkable eras in Egypt’s history, author Nathaniel Burns weaves a shudderingly ominous tale of ancient Egypt’s mysteries revealed through a cast of characters the modern reader will recognize even though millenia have passed.
So light up the incense, sit close to the light and draw back the curtains on the shadowed past with this gripping tale of love and intrigue among the living and the dead in one of history’s most intriguing civilizations.
Princess of Egypt is the second book in the series The Cases of Neti-Kerty.
Princess of Egypt is the second book in the series The Cases of Neti-Kerty. The books are selling well, there is a huge fan base for Ancient Egypt novels.
RAMESSES THE GREAT was seated in his assembly hall with all his advisors when the gilded doors opened and a young messenger came running into the hall. The young man dropped down on his knees before the pharaoh and bowed his head, wheezing as he awaited acknowledgement.
“Yes, Moses, what is it?” the pharaoh calmly spoke, his voice not as strong as it had been all those years ago.
“My gallant Lord,” the young man spoke between pants, “the bark from Thebes has arrived.”
Ramesses looked at the young man before speaking. “Are the prefect Shabaka and the embalmer’s daughter on it?”
With his head still lowered, the young man replied, “Yes, my Lord.”
“Good.” The word sounded more like a sigh of relief. “Return to the waterfront and inform him that I wish to see both of them, immediately.”
“Yes, my Lord.” The young man rose from his position and firmly nodded before turning to leave the room. Ramesses watched as the young man set off once again at a hard pace, and for a moment he envied him his youth and vigor.
“You cannot mean to have her enter here!” an overly obese man close to him said. “You have heard the reports about this woman.”
“Reports from whom, may I ask, Khay? The very mayor they have captured stealing from me?” Ramesses reproached the vizier. “His word carries no weight anymore. He has proven himself a thief, and we all know that thieves are also liars.”
“But surely you cannot allow a tainted one to enter the house of a god,” Sahure, the treasury advisor, said, “for it will certainly bring misfortune to the kingdom.”
“I will do as I like. This is my home you speak of, thus my wish to have her here. So I will not care for another word to be spoken about it.”
