Dead Harvest

DI Ray Wilson has a bit of a bother on his hands.  A routine traffic stop of a lorry has netted half a dozen illegal immigrants and what appears to be an Egyptian coffin.  He turns to Karen Bowen at The Fitzwilliam in Cambridge for help.

A plate on what appears to be an Egyptian coffin has cuneiform script.  This puzzles Bowen and her aide, Salim.  Persians didn’t mummify their dead, and Egyptians didn’t use cuneiform.  Inside the coffin on the body is another plate, which states that the body is the daughter of Xerxes!

Bowen wants x-rays of the body.  The examination indicates that girl was under 22 at the time of death.  But, where is the heart?  It was normally left in place.

Do they have a treasure on their hands or a mystery of some sort?  Later Salim comes to the realisation that the name used was actually a Greek translation, which came later.  He thinks that they have a fake on their hands.  Upon closer examination of the coffin they discover a pencil mark.  Pencils weren’t invented until the 17th century!  The CT-scan reveals things that show the body isn’t ancient.  Wilson has a murder on his hands!

Dr. Graham Marr is called upon to the autopsy.  A severe spinal injury is discovered as is the cause of death - slash to the carotid artery.  Unfortunately it is going to take some time to gather more details.

Forensic analysis provides some answers and a fingerprint.  It belongs to a man with dual British and Turk nationality.  Wilson has history with the man behind the fingerprint. The man is a nasty piece of work.

A contact with Interpol tells Wilson that the man appears to have links to the black market in human organs.  Meanwhile Bowen discovers a coupe of magazine articles indicating other mummies had been offered to other museums.

With no support from his ACC, Wilson turns to the press.  Action explodes as a result.  Local police and Interpol become involved, and both Wilson and Bowen’s lives are in jeopardy.

Author Andrew Leatham has the reader on the edge of their seat as the pages turn from there on.  Tensions build as the ultimate conclusion is reached.  Leatham’s thriller is full of shock and awe.  This is an extremely good start to a series I look forward to reading.