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The year is (approximately) 1150 BCE. Semerket is Egypt's official Clerk of Investigations and Secrets, and confidant to the Pharaoh himself, Ramses IV. We learn early on that Semerket was recently responsible for uncovering a conspiracy against Ramses's father, so his status is understandable. But Semerket is not a happy man. His beloved ex-wife was exiled to Mesopotamia for being related to a conspirator and he has frequent dreams of her being brutally murdered there. He spends a lot of time hanging out in taverns, morosely staring into -- but not drinking -- a bowl of wine. At length our hero is summoned by the Pharaoh and dispatched to Mesopotamia to negotiate a state visit by Babylon's god. He gladly seizes the chance to do his king's bidding while also learning the fate of his love. He discovers Babylon in a state of civil unrest, recently conquered by the Elamites and seething with revolution. Negotiating with a precarious despot and locating a single Egyptian woman in a city of many hundreds of thousands both seem hopeless enterprises, but Semerket finds allies in unexpected places and begins to unravel a complex skein. I found this book most enjoyable. I am bound to say that, as a mystery, it was not very mysterious; the fate of Semerket's wife was not actually the least bit surprising. And a couple of characters turned out to be disguised, but this was not a shock, either. Still, the characters, both major and minor, were very well drawn. I like Semerket; he may be a bit on the morose side, but he is intelligent, modest and open-hearted. It was a pleasure to spend time in his company. I also very much enjoyed the setting, which was convincingly portrayed. Interesting details brought ancient Babylon to life without any whiff of being lectured to. I intend to seek out the previous volume in this series, and look forward with pleasure to the next.
Reviewed by Diana Sandberg, January 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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