Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, now a wife and mother, returns in another Victorian-era mystery--to catch a murderer at an excavation of an ancient tomb. It's 1892, and Amelia and her now-husband Radcliffe Emerson have settled down in Victorian England after their escapade in Egypt. They're raising their young son Ramses and everything seems normal--until they are approached by a damsel in distress. Lady Baskerville's husband, Sir Henry, has died after uncovering what may have been royal tomb in Luxor. Despite rumors of a curse haunting all those involved with the dig, Amelia and Radcliffe proceed to Egypt and realize that Sir Henry did not die a natural death. Accidents continue to plague the dig, and talk of a pharaoh's curse runs rampant among the group. Amelia begins to suspect that these accidents are caused by a sinister human, but who?