The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

the estate, sold the tomb to the American railroad magnate William C. Spragg. One of the museum’s early benefactors, Spragg shipped the tomb across the Atlantic and had it reassembled in the museum, which was under construction at that time. It was his pet project and he spent months haunting the site, hounding the workers, and otherwise making a nuisance of himself. In a tragic irony, he was crushed under the wheels of a horse-drawn ambulance just two days before the grand opening in 1872.
    Nora took a break from her perusal of the documents. It was not quite three o’clock, and she was making better progress than she’d expected. If she could get this done by eight, she might have time to share a quick bite with Bill at the Bones. He would love this dark, dusty history. And it might make a good piece for the Times ’s cultural or metropolitan section when the tomb’s opening neared.
    She moved along to the next bundle, all museum documents and in much better condition. The first set of papers dealt with the opening of the tomb. In it were some copies of the engraved invitation:

    The President of the United States of America
    the Honorable General Ulysses S. Grant
    The Governor of the State of New York
    the Honorable John T. Hoffman
    The President of the New York Museum of Natural History
    Dr. James K. Moreton
    The Trustees and the Director of the Museum
    Cordially invite you to a Dinner and Ball in honor of the opening of the

    GRAND TOMB OF SENEF
    Regent and Vizier to the Pharaoh Thutmosis IV,
    Ruler of Ancient Egypt
    1419-1386 B.C.

    The Diva Eleonora de Graff Bolkonsky will perform Arias
    from the New and Celebrated Opera Aïda
    by Giuseppe Verdi

    Egyptian Costume

    Nora held the crumbling invitation in her hand. It amazed her that the museum commanded such a presence in those days that the president himself signed the invitation. She shuffled further and discovered a second document—a menu for the dinner.

    Hors d’oeuvres Variés
    Consommé Olga

    Kebab Egyptien
    Filet Mignon Lili
    Vegetable Marrow Farcie

    Roast Squab & Cress
Pâté de Foie Gras en Croûte
Baba Ghanouj
Waldorf Pudding
    Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly

    There were a dozen blank invitations in the file. She set one aside, along with the menu, in a “to be photocopied” folder. This was something Menzies should see. In fact, she thought, it would be marvelous if they could duplicate the original opening—without the costume ball, perhaps—and offer the same menu.
    She began reading the press notices of the evening. It had been one of those great social events of late-nineteenth-century New York, the likes of which would never be seen again. The guest list read like a roll call at the dawn of the Gilded Age: the Astors and Vanderbilts, William Butler Duncan, Walter Langdon, Ward McAllister, Royal Phelps. There were engravings from Harper’s Weekly showing the ball, with everyone dressed in the most outlandish interpretations of Egyptian costume…
    But she was wasting time. She pushed the clippings aside and opened the next folder. It also contained a newspaper clipping, this time from the New York Sun , one of the scandal sheets of the time. It had an illustration of a dark-haired man in a fez, with liquid eyes, dressed in flowing robes. Quickly she scanned the article.

    Sun Exclusive
___

    Tomb in New York Museum Is Accursed!
___

    Egyptian Bey Issues Warning
___

    The Malediction of the Eye of Horus
    New York—On a recent visit to New York by His Eminence Abdul El-Mizar, Bey of Bolbassa in Upper Egypt, the gentleman from the land of the pharaohs was shocked to find on display at the New York Museum the Tomb of SENEF.
    The Egyptian and his entourage, who were being given a tour of the museum, turned away from the tomb in horror and consternation, warning other visitors that to enter the tomb was to consign oneself to certain and terrible death. “This tomb carries a curse well known in my own country,” El-Mizar later told the Sun