The Lost Army Of Cambyses

This gripping, captivating and wonderfully evocative archeological thriller by bestselling author Paul Sussman is a must read for fans of Clive Cussler and Wilbur Smith. "A tremendous adventure, one of the most intriguing mysteries of the past, a great novel masterfully written" - VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI "One of the best writers of international suspense in the business" - STEVE BERRY "Stylish writing and deep research" - GUARDIAN "An excellent book full of twists and turns." -- * Reader review "Enthralling" -- * Reader review "WOW what a brilliant book and enjoyed every bit of it. No hesitation in giving it 5 stars." -- * Reader review *** MURDER, INTRIGUE, VIOLENCE, BETRAYAL AND A RACE TO SOLVE ONE OF THE GREATEST MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD... 523 BC: the Persian pharaoh Cambyses dispatches an army across Egypt's western desert to destroy the oracle at Siwa. Legend has it that somewhere in the middle of the Great Dune Sea his army is overwhelmed by a sandstorm and lost forever. Two and a half millennia later, a mutilated corpse is washed up on the banks of the Nile at Luxor, an antiques dealer is savagely murdered in Cairo, and a British archaeologist is found dead at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara. The incidents appear unconnected, but Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police is not so sure... And so he begins an investigation that will lead him into the forbidding, barren heart of the western desert, and the answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world...

Journalist and novelist Paul Sussman read history at Cambridge, where he won a Joseph Larmor Award and was a Boxing Blue. From an early age his abiding passion was archaeology and he worked in the field, in particular in Egypt (where he was part of the first team to excavate new ground in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922). He brought this interest and enthusiasm to his novels - The Lost Army of Cambyses, The Last Secret of the Temple, The Hidden Oasis and The Labyrinth of Osiris - which have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold over three million copies. Paul's journalism appeared across the media, including in the Big Issue, Independent, Guardian, Evening Standard and on CNN.com. Paul died suddenly in May 2012, aged 45. He is survived by his wife, a television producer, and their two sons. In 2014, the posthumous publication of what was in fact his first novel - The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Phoenix - fulfilled a long-held wish.