Claire Malloy--Arkansas bookseller and widowed mother--after a long courtship has finally said "I do" to her swain, Lieutenant Peter Rosen. Now they are on their honeymoon in Luxor, Egypt. That is, Claire is on her honeymoon--accompanied by Caron, her teenaged daughter, and Inez, Caron's best friend and frequent partner in adventure. Peter is mostly away on various mysterious consultations with equally mysterious government agencies for his new mysterious job. Claire is intent on a quiet, uneventful honeymoon, but things go from bucolic to creepy, when Caron and Inez are chased through darkened deserted alleys, by persons unknown, and a student of their acquaintance is kidnapped by two young men on horseback in a scene reminiscent of a Valentino film. Something is clearly afoot in this tourist paradise, and Claire will stop at nothing to find out what it is