The Egyptian Coffin

Set in 1830, Jakeman's engrossing second Lord Ambrose Malfine historical (after 2004's Let There Be Blood ) evokes the classic 19th-century suspense novels of the likes of Wilkie Collins and Sheridan Le Fanu. When Malfine investigates a riding accident suffered by a young heiress with a West Country estate near his own, he discovers that Miss Lilian Westmorland of Westmorland Park is at the mercy of her taciturn uncle and guardian, Micah Overbury, and his pockmarked ""man of affairs,"" Casterman. After Lilian catches a fever, Overbury dispatches her to Cairo in the charge of a servant and Casterman to complete her recovery. The discovery of the body of a strangled girl with links to Westmorland Park spurs the suspicious Malfine to set out on a journey that will take him from the wilds of Dartmoor to the alleyways of Cairo and the pyramids. Realistic and admirable characters support a tightly woven plot that's enriched by details of life in both rural Britain and Egypt. Agent, Patricia Moosbrugger . (Sept.)