Not only is master builder Chenu struggling to plan and build a massive temple, now he's supposed to be spying. And in the most piquant place in all of Egypt. His employer, Pharaoh Khufu, sends him to his harem to find out who the sinister murderer is. Two of Chufu's wives have already been strangled. And Meritites, Pharaoh's queen, could be the next victim.... Chenu's efforts do not go unrewarded. Chufu enables him to rise fabulously to become Egypt's best doctor, eventually making him his personal physician and commissioning him to fulfil Osiris' oracle and build the world's largest pyramid for Pharaoh. But Chenu does not recognise Chufu's benevolence; for he is a troublemaker, stubborn, clever and an extraordinary head of character. And he hates Chufu with all his heart. But both - Pharaoh and doctor - are bound to each other for better or worse by the knowledge of brutal murders and family secrets. Only at the end, when it is too late, do they both realise that all their lives they have refused to admit to each other that, despite all their differences, they have been true friends...