The Museum Detective
Archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani's investigation into a sensational discovery gets complicated—and personal—when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member

Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan, this gripping, whip-smart, and heart-wrenching series opener is perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart—and introduces an unforgettable new sleuth to the crime fiction canon


When Dr. Gul Delani receives a call in the middle of the night from the Sindh police, she thinks they may have finally found her niece, Mahnaz—a precocious, politically conscious teenage girl who went missing three years prior. Gul has been wracked with grief since Mahnaz’s disappearance, and distracts herself through her work: she is a talented curator at the Museum of Heritage and History in Karachi, one of the country’s leading experts in archaeology and ancient civilizations, an incredibly hard-won position for a woman.

But there is no news of Mahnaz. Instead, Gul is summoned to a narcotics investigation in a remote desert region in western Pakistan. In her wildest dreams, Gul couldn’t have imagined what she’d find there: amid a drug bust gone horribly wrong, there is a mummy—life-size, seemingly authentic, its sarcophagus decorated with symbols from Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. The discovery confounds everyone. It is both too good to be true, and for Gul, too precious to leave in careless or corrupt hands.

Aided by her team of unlikely misfits, Gul will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of it, even as her quest for the truth puts her in the throes of a dangerous conspiracy, and threatens to collide with her ongoing search for Mahnaz. The Museum Detective is an exciting, gritty new crime thriller that announces a whip-smart and brilliant sleuth and builds to a stunning, emotional conclusion that readers won’t soon forget.
"1145939884"
The Museum Detective
Archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani's investigation into a sensational discovery gets complicated—and personal—when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member

Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan, this gripping, whip-smart, and heart-wrenching series opener is perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart—and introduces an unforgettable new sleuth to the crime fiction canon


When Dr. Gul Delani receives a call in the middle of the night from the Sindh police, she thinks they may have finally found her niece, Mahnaz—a precocious, politically conscious teenage girl who went missing three years prior. Gul has been wracked with grief since Mahnaz’s disappearance, and distracts herself through her work: she is a talented curator at the Museum of Heritage and History in Karachi, one of the country’s leading experts in archaeology and ancient civilizations, an incredibly hard-won position for a woman.

But there is no news of Mahnaz. Instead, Gul is summoned to a narcotics investigation in a remote desert region in western Pakistan. In her wildest dreams, Gul couldn’t have imagined what she’d find there: amid a drug bust gone horribly wrong, there is a mummy—life-size, seemingly authentic, its sarcophagus decorated with symbols from Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. The discovery confounds everyone. It is both too good to be true, and for Gul, too precious to leave in careless or corrupt hands.

Aided by her team of unlikely misfits, Gul will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of it, even as her quest for the truth puts her in the throes of a dangerous conspiracy, and threatens to collide with her ongoing search for Mahnaz. The Museum Detective is an exciting, gritty new crime thriller that announces a whip-smart and brilliant sleuth and builds to a stunning, emotional conclusion that readers won’t soon forget.
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The Museum Detective

The Museum Detective

by Maha Khan Phillips
The Museum Detective

The Museum Detective

by Maha Khan Phillips

Hardcover

$27.95 
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Overview

Archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani's investigation into a sensational discovery gets complicated—and personal—when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member

Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan, this gripping, whip-smart, and heart-wrenching series opener is perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Elsa Hart—and introduces an unforgettable new sleuth to the crime fiction canon


When Dr. Gul Delani receives a call in the middle of the night from the Sindh police, she thinks they may have finally found her niece, Mahnaz—a precocious, politically conscious teenage girl who went missing three years prior. Gul has been wracked with grief since Mahnaz’s disappearance, and distracts herself through her work: she is a talented curator at the Museum of Heritage and History in Karachi, one of the country’s leading experts in archaeology and ancient civilizations, an incredibly hard-won position for a woman.

But there is no news of Mahnaz. Instead, Gul is summoned to a narcotics investigation in a remote desert region in western Pakistan. In her wildest dreams, Gul couldn’t have imagined what she’d find there: amid a drug bust gone horribly wrong, there is a mummy—life-size, seemingly authentic, its sarcophagus decorated with symbols from Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. The discovery confounds everyone. It is both too good to be true, and for Gul, too precious to leave in careless or corrupt hands.

Aided by her team of unlikely misfits, Gul will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of it, even as her quest for the truth puts her in the throes of a dangerous conspiracy, and threatens to collide with her ongoing search for Mahnaz. The Museum Detective is an exciting, gritty new crime thriller that announces a whip-smart and brilliant sleuth and builds to a stunning, emotional conclusion that readers won’t soon forget.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781641296564
Publisher: Soho Press, Incorporated
Publication date: 04/01/2025
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Maha Khan Phillips is a multiple award-winning financial journalist, and the author of Beautiful from This Angle, The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby, and The Curse of Mohenjo Daro. She grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. She has a bachelor’s degree in Politics and International Relations and a masters in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent at Canterbury. In 2006, she completed a master’s degree in Creative Writing from City University in London, where she currently lives with her husband and son.
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