The Museum Detective

(Hardback)

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Archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani's investigation into a sensational discovery gets complicated-and personal-when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member. Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan, this gripping, whip-smart, and heart-wrenching series opener is perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart-and introduces an unforgettable new sleuth to the crime fiction canon. Archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani's investigation into a sensational discovery gets complicated-and personal-when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member. Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan, this gripping, whip-smart, and heart-wrenching series opener is perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart-and introduces an unforgettable new sleuth to the crime fiction canon. When Dr. Gul Delani receives a call in the middle of the night from the Sindh police, she thinks they may have finally found her niece, Mahnaz-a precocious, politically conscious teenage girl who went missing three years prior. Gul has been racked with grief since Mahnaz's disappearance, and distracts herself through work- she's a talented curator at the Museum of Heritage and History in Karachi, one of the country's leading experts in archaeology and ancient civilizations, a hard-won position for a woman. But there is no news of Mahnaz. Instead, Gul is summoned to a narcotics investigation in a remote desert region in western Pakistan. In her wildest dreams, Gul couldn't have imagined what she'd find there- amid a drug bust gone wrong, there is a mummy-life-size, seemingly authentic, its sarcophagus decorated with symbols from Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. The discovery confounds everyone. It is both too good to be true, and for Gul, too precious to leave in careless or corrupt hands. Aided by her team of unlikely misfits, Gul will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of it, even as her quest for the truth puts her in the throes of a dangerous conspiracy and threatens to collide with her ongoing search for Mahnaz. A portrait of a city fueled by corruption and a woman relentlessly in pursuit of justice, The Museum Detective is an exciting, gritty new crime thriller that announces a whip-smart and brilliant sleuth and builds to a stunning, emotional conclusion that readers won't soon forget.

Reviews

Praise for The Museum Detective

The Museum Detective is everything you want in a crime novel: twisty, unputdownable, and with a brilliant, lovable heroine who will take up permanent residenceinyourhead.
Tahmima Anam, author of The Startup Wife

A gripping plot that immerses the reader in worlds that arepersonal, archaeological, and political, andthat had me thundering, breathlessly, to the end.
Gillian Slovo, author of Ten Days

Another Maha Khan Phillips masterpiece, combining historical intrigue and emotion seamlessly in a rip-roaring yarn that explores the depths of grief, justice, corruption and family. A gripping mystery that keeps you guessingtilltheend.
Omar Shahid Hamid, author of The Prisoner


Praise for Maha Khan Phillips

Here is some competition for Dan Brown in how to turn patchwork history into a page-turner . . . A delightful read.
The Times of India

Unputdownable.
Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire

With hints of James Bond, Lara Croft, Indiana Jones and yes, it must be said, the Dan Brown novels, it is hardly surprising that there isnt a dull moment in this frantically-paced historical thriller.
Newsline Magazine

Author Bio

Maha Khan Phillips was born in Karachi, Pakistan. She is the author of Beautiful from This Angle, The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby and The Curse of Mohenjodaro. She is a multiple award-winning financial journalist and editor and writes across a number of different journals and magazines. She lives in London with her husband and son and frequently visits Pakistan, where she has a keen interest in exploring archaeological sites.