The Scorpion's Bite

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It is 1943 and the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan by the OSS, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archeology in Jerusalem. As part of their survey, they roam the beautiful, silent desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia still lingers, and where the ancient Nabateans once ruled an empire from their capital in Petra. But soon Lily and Gideon are stranded in the Wadi Rum, and their Bedouin guide is murdered. Could Gideon be guilty of the crime Then the pair learn that two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to ports on the Mediterranean- one through Trans-Jordan supplying the Allies, the other through Syria supplying the Nazis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline. Lily and Gideon's real mission is to help safeguard the pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis. At the same time, Lily uncovers a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year-old King Faisal of Iraq. Can Lily and Gideon clear Gideon's name, protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq

Reviews

the issues she raises about Western versus Islamic cultural values couldn't be more timely. Publishers Weekly of The Torch of Tangier Baron wrote her first novel about Lily Sampson (A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes) when she was 76 years old. She returns here with a story that is just as riveting and suspenseful. Library Journal of The Torch of Tangier Those who like their thrillers steeped in exotic climes will find intriguing political and cultural conflict aplenty as Lily becomes the lynchpin for a vital Allied operation --Booklist of The Torch of Tangier

Author Bio

Aileen Baron has a Ph.D. in archaeology and taught for twenty years in the Department of Anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. Her many years of archaeological fieldwork in the Middle East, include a year at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem as an NEH scholar, and director of the overseas campus of California State Universities at the Hebrew University. Her residence in Switzerland, the hub of the antiquities trade, and her experience in museums has given her an insight into the underside of the trade in ancient art, the focus of her latest mystery, The Gold Of Thrace.