THE PROFESSOR Dr. Jamie Madison- very beautiful, very brilliant, and very, very rich- but once out of her comfort zone, is she a match for the charismatic Inspector Al Saladan? THE INSPECTOR Henri- shrewd and capable, he's called upon to investigate the brutal murder of an American tourist...but he hasn't bargained on falling in love with the headstrong professor Madison.... ...and a supporting cast of characters with questionable pasts - and mysterious presents: ...handsome Richard Whitsome, an aging Lothario who meets his gruesome end at the ancient Egyptian temple of Kom Ombo. His wife, Marion, has always bailed him out of his peccadilloes- until now.... ....the David Nivenish Sam and his glib wife, Liz- and their secrets.... ....the Santa Barbara socialites- are they hiding behind a façade or just plain weird? ....the old woman- at eighty, she chain smokes, guzzles whiskey- and packs a pistol.... ....young, fragile, hauntingly beautiful Tamara- why did she leave the Church? ....a good, American blue collar couple with violence in their past and uncertainty in their present.... ....all meet in the searing heat of Egypt in a murder mystery that tests young Jaime Madison's faith in her emotional self, her newfound friends, and the meaning of truth itself.