Hori and Nakhtmin have barely adjusted to their new duties as the pharaoh's palace physicians when Hori is summoned to the secret embalming compound. A heart has been found there, which doesn't belong to any of the corpses; a heinous crime must have been committed, which robs the dead of any chance for an afterlife. While clueless Nakhtmin begrudges his friend for simply disappearing and makes new acquaintances, Hori finds out far more than he bargained for and unwittingly puts his own life on the line. The surplus heart isn't the only thing off kilter at the weryt: the very secrets of the...

A dubious trader dies of a medical drug overdose administered by his physician Nehesy. A clear case, or so it seems. Nehesy is sentenced to five years in the stone pits-which few survive. However, the condemned man's daughter Ouseret, a doctor herself, believes her father is innocent. Eager to win his beloved's heart, Hori jumps at the chance to acquit Nehesy. Together with Nakhtmin and Mutnofret, he travels to Waset where the ominous death occurred. What looks like a simple investigation turns out to be an intricate puzzle with far more than business gone awry at its heart. Had the trader...