Review Rating
With the October 2004 review, we began rating the books on the basis of one to four trowels;
one trowel= don’t bother, to four trowels= run right out to your local book store and buy the hard cover!
Golden Oldies - reviewing previously unreviewed books by previously reviewed “greatest hits” authors!
As we approach nearly twenty-five years of the MVAC reviews of archaeological fiction, I thought it would be fun to re-visit six of the authors whose works have been reviewed in the past. Three of these authors have sadly passed away since I first reviewed them (Margot Arnold, Lynn Hamilton, and Elizabeth Peters); two have “retired” their archaeologist protagonists, Gideon Oliver (Aaron Elkins), and Emma Fielding (Dana Cameron); and one, (Kate Ellis) continues to put DI Wesley Peterson and his friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, in harm’s way as solve contemporary crimes that have their roots in the distant past. While these authors have been reviewed previously, these books have not.
Hieroglyphs and Homicide by Tracy Higley
Reviewed on: April 1, 2026
Stonewater Books LLC: Gloucester, VA
2025 (PB)
It is February of 1923 when Clarissa Bell, scion of a wealthy New York family, arrives in Cairo, Egypt to join the crew working an archaeological dig at Giza, near the Great Pyramid. Having recently completed six years of study in archaeology at the University of Cambridge, she finds herself greeted by the condescending disdain of dig director, Dr. Nathaniel Bradford, who assigns her to catalog a mind-numbing assortment of pottery fragments.
Despite the enthusiastic recommendation of her Cambridge mentor, Dr. Gregory Sutherland—who will soon join the excavation crew himself-- Clarissa is resigned that it is her father’s checkbook, rather than her academic credentials, that has earned her a spot on the dig. She is also keenly aware that her father fully expects her to “get Egypt out her system, come back home to the US and marry his business partner’s son.”
Clarissa’s humdrum tasks fade into the background when two seemingly unrelated episodes occur that will change her Egyptian experience forever. First, when she meets, and is immediately suspicious of the disturbingly handsome and debonair Benedict Quinn, a self-identified “antiquities dealer,” and “consultant” to the Egyptian Museum, and second, when an artifact turned in for cleaning catches her scholarly attention. The crew had been excavating the Eastern Cemetery, which interred nobles associated with the royal family of Khufu, who reigned some 4,500 years in the past—during the so-called Old Kingdom. But the artifact in question—a scribe’s palette—bore hieroglyphs that suggested a New Kingdom (c. 1500 BC, not 2500 BC) provenance. Such artifacts were virtually non-existent on the Giza Plateau.
Director Bradford was immediately excited by the discovery—believing it could open new and even more lucrative sources of funding—but just as suddenly, the artifact disappeared from the site, and Clarissa learned that it was likely not a random theft, but a knowledgeable and targeted one as other artifacts and tools were left untouched. An apparent meeting of the minds resulted with Director Bradford and Dr. Sutherland recommending that Clarissa work with Quinn and his investigations of artifacts stolen from private collections, digs and museums—the most recent being the scribe’s palette. The fact that many of the artifacts disappeared shortly after discovery suggested that someone inside the relatively small world of Egyptian archaeology was intimately involved in the disappearing treasures.
To Clarissa’s great discomfort, circumstantial evidence would hint strongly at her mentor, Gregory Sutherland’s direct involvement in the artifact thefts.
Clarissa convinces Quinn that the stolen artifacts could well come up at auction at the estate of Elias Hawke-- Cultural Liaison to the Foreign Office, major donor to the British Museum, and respected collector of Egyptian antiquities. While Quinn believes Hawke to be officially above reproach, Clarissa counters that his diplomatic immunity could cloak an abundance of improprieties.
It becomes painfully clear that Clarissa and Quinn are drawing closer to a conspiracy that goes well beyond mere artifact smuggling—a woman with a pistol confronts Clarissa and demands her drawings and notes on the stolen scribe’s palate; the director of the Greco-Roman Museum levels a warning at Clarissa that she is treading in dangerous waters; and a terrified Gregory Sutherland sends word that he wants to meet Clarissa and Quinn in his room at the Mena House in Giza to explain everything. But they are too late and find the lifeless body of Clarissa’s mentor in a pool of his own blood.
Their further investigations plunge them into further dangers as the dimensions of the real conspiracy become clearer-- it is the control of history itself that is in the balance. But with that clarity, Clarissa finds herself facing two dreadful possibilities: that Benedict Quinn might not be the comrade-in-arms she had grown to trust—and perhaps love-- and that the plot to subvert Egyptian history might only be the tip of the conspiratorial iceberg.
Not only is Hieroglyphs and Homicide a compelling mystery, but the author is a master at conveying the ambiance and atmosphere of early 20th Century Egypt. A couple of examples may demonstrate this talent:
“The café’s interior was a palimpsest of Cairo’s history—Ottoman-era beams
supporting British electrical fixtures, ancient stone floors worn smooth by
centuries of footsteps beneath modern European furniture.
“Honeycomb patterns of amber light danced across the walls, tossed there
by perforated brass lamps hung from chains blackened by decades of smoke.
Conversations in Arabic, French, and English ebbed and flowed, creating a
linguistic tide pool where secrets and gossip seemed to swirl together,
occasionally washing close enough for me to catch fragments before receding
into the general murmur.” (pp.42-43)
It is worth noting that a free short story prequel to Hieroglyphs and Homicides, entitled Murder in the Museum, is available ONLY on-line at https://BookHip.com/FKLNMDJ It follows the first adventure of a 17-year-old Clarissa Bell on her first Egyptian holiday.
Four trowels for the first Clarissa Bell Mystery, but it comes with this caveat: The plot continues in Book 2 of the series: Palm Trees and Poison.
