"He came along the passage toward me, walking much more quickly than a casual tourist should have walked, almost like someone who is hurrying to greet a friend. but there was no smile on his face. His mouth was shut so tightly it looked like an illustration in a geometry book: the shortest distance between two points. They say you can't tell from a person's expression what he is thinking. Maybe not, but you can get a general idea. I didn't like the man's looks and I didn't like the isolation of the passage. I turned and started walking back. I walked rather quickly. When the other man came into view, at the end of the passage ahead of me, my breath caught in my throat..."

The pyramids of Mexico City's Walk of the Dead towered above and around Carol farley, their beauty shrouded in the terror they suddenly held for the young American. it began as Carol's Christmas vacation ended: an envelope waiting for her in her room, an anonymously sent piece of mail with a newspaper clipping in it. Blurred, but still recognizable, was a picture of her father. It was the first time in years that Carol could be certain he was alive. And because he was, Carol Farley went to Mexico. And because she went to Mexico...

Elizabeth Peters, whose New York Times best-selling novels are often set against historical backdrops, earned a Ph.D. in Egyptology at the University of Chicago. She also writes best-selling books under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels. She lives in Frederick, Maryland.