We are in London in 1890, and the British Museum plans to exhibit the contents, brought specially to London, of a newly excavated Egyptian tomb. The event is disturbed by the murder of a museum watchman. A suspect is quickly found, a young museum assistant, caught red-handed with a bloodstained knife. But things are not so simple; behind this apparently clear case Holmes uncovers, piece by piece, just as did the archaeologists, a complicated story of blackmail, violence and treachery, which, at every step, threatens him, and Watson, with deadly consequences. See how events ranging from the British Embassy in Cairo to a theatre in East London can baffle and confuse, until Holmes and Watson find the last pieces of the puzzle, and must fight for their lives.