Fresh from solving the murder of a British agent in the Canary Islands (in book two, A Different Kind of Evil), mystery writer Agatha Christie receives a letter from a family who believe their late daughter, archaeologist Gertrude Bell, may have met with foul play. It appears she overdosed on sleeping medication, but found near her body was a letter claiming that Bell was being followed. Christie travels to far-off Persia, where she meets Bell's rival, the enigmatic archeologist Mrs. Woolley, who is working on a big and potentially valuable discovery. Temperamental but brilliant, Woolley quickly charms the sleuth, but when she does not hide her disdain for the recently deceased Miss Bell, Christie doesn't know whether to trust her—or if a killer is just clever enough to hide in plain sight.