On an escapade in the marketplace in Menfe, Mara, the mistreated slave of a wealthy jewel trader, attracts the notice of a mysterious white-hooded man who buys her to use as a spy in the service of Thutmose.

On the Nile river boat, The Silver Beetle, Mara becomes acquainted with Sheftu, a youth who describes himself as "a scribe's apprentice" but is in reality Lord Sheftu, leader of the movement to depose the profligate queen and to put Thutmose on the throne of Egypt. Sheftu also decides to employ Mara as a go-between at court for himself and Thutmose.

Life for Mara in the royal palace at Thebes moves with a sinister undercurrent of intrigue and danger. When Sheftu is ordered by Thutmose to travel to the awesome Valley of the Tombs of Kings, to despoil the burying place of Thutmose I in order to secure its needed treasure of gold —and Mara faces the full knowledge of his danger in this mission —she realizes her love for him. That dark and desperate journey mounts swiftly to a climax of fearsome events with suspense that is both thrilling and absorbing.

The picturesque daily life of the Egyptians —the shopkeepers and their shops in the vivid movement of the Marketplaces; the colorful flow of activities along the Nile's banks; the sumptuous luxury of the royal palace's rooms and their occupants – is presented through a wealth of freshly described, and almost photographic detail.

From the dust jacket