Secret of the 7th Scarab

The Mummifier's Daughter #4

by Nathaniel Burns

Ancient Egypt, 1231 BC

While the pharaoh tries to conceal the disappearance of Queen Nefertari’s sacred heart scarab, along with Shabaka’s abduction, fears of a curse befall those travelling eastwards through the desert.

Neti and Moses, during their investigation and search for Shabaka, uncover a sinister underground network in Thebes that have since the pharaoh’s move to Pi-Ramesses resulted in numerous underhanded dealings. Here Neti has to come to terms with the life she, by chance, managed to escape.

Will they find Shabaka before he disappears in the underground network? Or will Ma-Nefer finally have his revenge against the Nubian prefect and the Mummifier's daughter?



The Secret of the 7th Scarab returns us to a land steeped in mystery and magic. It paints a detailed picture of Ancient Egypt in all its glory. Faithfully recreating one of the most remarkable eras in Egypt’s history, author Nathaniel Burns weaves a shudderingly ominous tale of ancient Egypt’s mysteries revealed through a cast of characters the modern reader will recognize even though millenia have passed.

So light up the incense, sit close to the light and draw back the curtains on the shadowed past with this gripping tale of love and intrigue among the living and the dead in one of history’s most intriguing civilizations.

Also available on Amazon:

The Mummifier's Daughter (The Mummifier's Daughter Series #1)
Princess of Egypt (The Mummifier's Daughter Series #2)
Curse of Anubis (The Mummifier's Daughter Series #3)

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Egyptian Literature, Egypt

215 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2014

Reviews

[Mary Heron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neti needs all her skills when Shabaka goes missing.

If you read.the.last book.you will know that Ma-Nefer kidnapped Shabaka at the end. No one realises he is gone.until the trail is cold. Ma -Never sends a ransom demand.to the Pharaoh Ramesses but he, Neti and Moses fear the worst and.they are right to as Ma-Nefer does not deliver Shabaka as promised. Not only that but there has been a theft from the tomb of Neferertit, Ramesses favourite wife. A golden heart Sarah has been taken and it.just be found quickly as it carries a very nasty curse.........................

[Berit☀️✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is what I've learned about myself while reading this book. I never want to live in ancient Egypt, the thought of walking across

The desert or riding a camel across the desert, is not appealing to me at all. I also learned I really don't enjoy reading books about ancient Egypt, so I guess my rating is a bit biased. Having said all that there was really no point to this story, maybe if I read the series from the beginning I would appreciate it more. It just seem to start and stop in the middle of everything,, But I don't care enough to read the rest of the series. It was one of those books that should have been longer, but I was glad it wasn't.

[Subrata Chakraborty · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Secret of the Seventh Scarab”, a fast-paced crime thriller written in the social backdrop of 3500 years back in Pharaonic Egypt where a hostage to get freed and a cursed Scarab need to be found.

“Secret of the Seventh Scarab” is the fourth book of the five book “Mysteries of Ancient Egypt” Series by Nathaniel Burns. This book is written in the backdrop of a time during the rule of mighty Pharaoh Ramses-II (1279-1294 BC), when ruled Egypt from his capital at Pi-Ramesses. Waset or present-day Luxor (mentioned as “Thebes” by Nathaniel in this book which was actually a Greeko-Roman name) was still the religious center of Egypt also the dead kings used to be buried in west coast of Nile here.

The heroine of the series Neti-Kerty is the key heroine of this book and her assistant Moses becomes her main helper here along with Khabo, an ex Nubian slave of Ma-Nefer. After a failed assassination attempt on Pharaoh Ramses II in the previous book of the series, Ramses continues to camp in Waset to punish the all conspirators who were caught, except ever slippery Ma-Nefer. Ramses also discovers that a Golden Herat Scarab from the body remains of his dearest first and principal wife Nefertari is stolen from her tomb. As he wants to entrust the recovery of this Scarab to his prefect’s Neti and Shabaka, he discovers that Shabaka has been captured by Ma-Nefer.

But as Ma-Nefer captures the main Prefect Shabaka, who is also a Nubian Prince, Ramses whole attention diverts to get released Shabaka, else his father and the King of Nubia (present day Sudan), who is an ally of Egypt, may declare war on Egypt. Ma-Nefer makes Shabaka a slave and imprison him in the notorious dungeons of Apisit Ripisit, a dark suburb of Waset. Neti and Moses makes a disguised visit to Apisit Ripisit but fails to find Shabaka. Ramses attempts a hostage release against ransom with Ma-Nefer to get released Shabaka but fails. Ma-Nefer has personal hatred against Shabaka and Neti, so he tortures Shabaka and finally sends him across the desert with slave traders to ruin him in this life.

Ramses and Neti gets hint of it and the trio of Neti-Moses-Khabo follows their trail in the desert. Shabaka survives the ordeals of desert with his captors and manages to hoodwink them in a desert storm and reaches a town near an oasis across the desert. Neti-Moses-Khabo also manages to cross the desert and reach the same town and unites with the surviving Nubian Prince Shabaka. On the other hand, Ramses orders a raid Apisit Ripisit and its vice den and manages to captures the elusive and slipper Ma-Nefer, but still the Golden Herat Scarab of Nefertari is not found which was stolen by Ma-Nefer. Taking Golden Herat Scarab from a tomb can bring a curse to the town of Waset.

Ma-Nefer knows where it is and will not tell even after heartful of whipping and Ramses need to find it out to save his citizen from the curse of the Scarab. This book ends here with release of Shabaka but keeps you high and dry which I don’t like, and Nathaniel lures you to read his fifth book of the series to know how the mystery to be solved.

The book is well written in the backdrop of ancient Pharaonic Egypt, the mystery remains till end to pull the reader till end. The book is not very long, you never get bored.

I recommend this book to every lover of ancient Pharaonic Egyptian history. I wish Nathaniel had mentioned the place of the action as “Waset” and not “Thebes”. But otherwise the book written within the correct historical perspective and ancient Egyptian customs.

[Francisco Gonzalez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very bad

I read the first few books an found them interesting and enjoyed them. Then I went to read the last of the series and I did not care for it. The entire book was about being lost and tortured in the desert and I was sick about the relationship of the two main characters. For heavens sake, how long can you drag that deal that I don’t know if he or she loves me?
But all that would have been aceptable except the book did not finish, the mystery was left undone and I left mad with the feeling that the author either got tired of writing and just finished the book undone or was just pissed at his readers and that was his way of punishing them. That was a mortal sin by any mystery writer
I will never read another book by that author and recommend you do the same

[R.A. Falkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series improves with each book

Although there are a lot of errors in this book, extra words, misspelled words, that sort of thing the story line is good and I enjoy reading about Neti and Shabakah’s adventures. I look forward to book 5 in this series.

[Sauron Moridor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sincerely worth acquiring this book

If you are fascinated by a incident Egypt, I recommend this series of well written books. This retired guy lives on various pensions but still buys a few books here and there, especially books on line.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite entertaining and well-written,, and after finishing the story, I plan to start with the first book in this series and go from there (which will include re-reading this story).

✿●▬▬▬▬●✿●✿●▬▬▬▬●✿
🏮Kindle Unlimited version.

[Meli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread

Even rereading these stories, I love them even more. The way Mr. Burns describes Egypt and surrounding area as well as the people, makes me feel like part of the story.

[Ellen White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Egypt, the mystery, adventures, and the stories that reveal new insights make good reading. Given audio the narration added to this story for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

[Vicki Scullion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this fourth book in the series a bit tedious. The plot drags on as the characters travel through Egypt on a mission to locate a missing person and a stolen gold scarab.

[Ginelle Canlas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hungry for more

Finished all 4 books sooner than expected. I love how the author Transports me to ancient Egypt and all its glory and rich history. I can’t wait for the next installment.

[Tertia Van]

I am absolutely addicted to this series, but find it most frustrating that I cannot buy it in kindle format. Next on my list is The Forgotten Papyrus, but it’s only available in audiobooks? Where can I get it in kindle format????

[Raquel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uhg. I'm seeing a theme here. Shabaka gets beaten up a lot and he and Neti's relationship continues to be unrequited.

This book left one of the central plot arcs dangling in To Be Continued land. As it was a theme introduced at the outset rather than seeded for future exploration along the way, it should have been resolved within this book.

I hated the ending. It was so abrupt that I was completely taken by surprise when my Kindle asked me to rate the book rather than continuing on to a next page.

I picked up the first book or two in this series for free and paid for the last two. I was happy to do so as it seemed like the books were getting better as the series went along. But this one feels like a half a book and not a good value. I won't be buying any more from this series.

[Micaylah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still with the crappy editing!

I think it's a good storyline. I think it has been written well. I think the character are well defined. I think. I can't tell.