The Book Of The Dead - Tapa dura

The New York Museum of Natural History receives by mail their entire diamond collection ground down to dust. Diogenes, who stole the gems in Dance of Death, is throwing down the gauntlet. In the throes of a PR nightmare, the museum plans a massive and extravagant exhibition to regain public trust and good will. They will reopen the Tomb of Senef, an Egyptian tomb previously on exhibit in the 1930s that was locked away to make room for a subway tunnel. An important Egyptian artifact found by Napoleon's army and nicked by the British before it was eventually bought by JP Morgan and brought to the museum. It was placed in the Museum in the basement. But the museum's dark secret is that the tomb is cursed and was bricked away to cover up a series of bizarre deaths. Now, Nora Kelly leads an amazing expedition to the basement to uncover the relic, much like a real archeological dig. When the tomb is unsealed, the curse is released and people begin dying. Meanwhile, D'Agosta, Eli Glinn, Constance and Proctor work out one of the most brilliant prison breaks in history -releasing Pendergast from Herkmoor prison.

Douglas Preston worked for the American Museum of Natural History as managing editor of Curator magazine. Lincoln Child is a former editor at St. Martin's Press