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Authors: James Patterson,Martin Dugard

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The Murder of King Tut

BOOK: The Murder of King Tut
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Copyright

Copyright © 2009 by James Patterson

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.

Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue,

New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com

www.twitter.com/littlebrown

First eBook Edition: September 2009

Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette
Book Group, Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-446-55120-5

Contents

Copyright

Author’s Note

Prologue

Valley of the Kings

Palm Beach, Florida

Part One

Chapter 1: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 2: Thebes

Chapter 3: Thebes

Chapter 4: Didlington Hall Near Swaffham, England

Chapter 5: Didlington Hall

Chapter 6: Didlington Hall

Chapter 7: Alexandria

Chapter 8: Beni Hasan

Chapter 9: Thebes

Chapter 10: Thebes

Chapter 11: Thebes

Chapter 12: Thebes

Chapter 13: Amarna

Chapter 14: Amarna

Chapter 15: Amarna

Chapter 16: Amarna

Chapter 17: Deir el-Bahri

Chapter 18: Deir el-Bahri

Chapter 19: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 20: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 21: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 22: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 23: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 24: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 25: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 26: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 27: Amarna

Chapter 28: Amarna

Part Two

Chapter 29: Palm Beach, Florida

Chapter 30: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 31: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 32: Amarna

Chapter 33: Amarna

Chapter 34: Amarna

Chapter 35: Amarna

Chapter 36: Amarna

Chapter 37: Thebes

Chapter 38: Thebes

Chapter 39: Amarna

Chapter 40: Luxor

Chapter 41: Amarna

Chapter 42: Thebes

Chapter 43: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 44: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 45: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 46: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 47: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 48: Thebes

Chapter 49: Thebes

Chapter 50: Luxor

Chapter 51: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 52: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 53: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 54: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 55: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 56: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 57: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 58: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 59: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 60: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 61: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 62: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 63: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 64: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 65: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 66: Highclere Castle

Part Three

Chapter 67: Palm Beach, Florida

Chapter 68: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 69: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 70: Egyptian Desert

Chapter 71: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 72: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 73: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 74: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 75: Luxor

Chapter 76: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 77: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 78: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 79: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 80: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 81: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 82: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 83: Egyptian Border

Chapter 84: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 85: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 86: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 87: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 88: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 89: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 90: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 91: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 92: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 93: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 94: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 95: Cairo

Chapter 96: Valley of the Kings

Chapter 97: Palm Beach, Florida

Chapter 98: Tut’s Palace

Chapter 99: Palm Beach, Florida

Chapter 100: London

Epilogue: Valley of the Kings

Books by James Patterson

About the Authors

For Frank Nicolo

—JP

For Callie

—MD

Author’s Note

JUST LIKE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, I have my own style manual. “JP Writing Style and Book Elements” is a list of nineteen bulleted
points that I keep within arm’s reach whenever I’m working. Point number eighteen is written in capital letters, because no
matter how often I read it, I need to be reminded that it is of the utmost importance: RESEARCH HELPS. DON’T FAKE ANYTHING—NOT
BRAIN TUMORS, NOT DROWNINGS, NOT EVEN A BEE STING.

I don’t think I’ve ever done more research for a book. From the instant the idea hit me and I teamed up with Marty Dugard
to write this story, it’s been total immersion in ancient Egypt. The book is a murder mystery, but the plunge back in time
added a whole other layer of detective work. We didn’t just need to know the players in our drama; we also needed to know
what foods they ate, the clothes they wore, how they loved, and, ultimately, the ways they might have killed each other.

Like number eighteen says: DON’T FAKE ANYTHING.

So we didn’t. Marty’s historical legwork involved trips to London and to Tut’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. I lost
myself in books and online research. We then combined our notes and began writing. One astounding fact about Egyptian history
is that so much of it is still unknown. So when we came to a gap, we went back to the research for answers. Then we put forth
our theory as to what happened. We constructed conversations and motives and rich scenes of palace life—all grounded in long
hours of research.

It’s nothing new for histories to be speculative, but there’s a difference between guessing and basing a theory on cold hard
facts. We chose the facts.

As for Howard Carter, he is almost a contemporary, so his life was much easier to document. I resisted the temptation to speculate
about his relationship with Lady Evelyn Herbert, though I thoroughly hoped to find a steamy journal entry that would allow
me to muse at will. You can draw your own conclusions.

I hope you enjoy
The Murder of King Tut
. It’s been a lot of fun to write. I became quite fond of the ill-fated Boy King and his equally ill-fated queen. They lived
thousands of years ago, but their love for each other was so powerful and real that I believe they had one of history’s great
romances. It’s a shame it all had to end so soon—and so mysteriously.

Prologue
Valley of the Kings

1900

IT WAS NEW YEAR’S EVE as a somber, good-looking explorer named Howard Carter, speaking fluent Arabic, gave the order to begin
digging.

Carter stood in a claustrophobic chamber more than three hundred feet underground. The air was dank, but he craved a cigarette.
He was addicted to the damn things. Sweat rings stained the armpits of his white button-down, and dust coated his work boots.
The sandal-clad Egyptian workers at his side began to shovel for all they were worth.

It had been almost two years since Carter had been thrown from his horse far out in the desert. That lucky fall had changed
his life.

He had landed hard on the stony soil but was amazed to find himself peering at a deep cleft in the ground. It appeared to
be the hidden entrance to an ancient burial chamber.

Working quickly and in secret, the twenty-six-year-old Egyptologist obtained the proper government permissions, then hired
a crew to begin digging.

Now he expected to become famous at a very young age—and filthy rich.

Early Egyptian rulers had been buried inside elaborate stone pyramids, but centuries of ransacking by tomb robbers inspired
later pharaohs to conceal their burial sites by carving them into the ground.

Once a pharaoh died, was mummified, and then sealed inside such a tomb with all his worldly possessions, great pains were
taken to hide its location.

But that didn’t help. Tomb robbers seemed to find every one.

Carter, a square-shouldered man who favored bow ties, linen trousers, and homburg hats, thought this tomb might be the exception.
The limestone chips that had been dumped into the tunnels and shaft by some long-ago builder—a simple yet ingenious method
to keep out bandits—appeared untouched.

Carter and his workers had already spent months removing the shards. With each load that was hauled away, he became more and
more certain that there was a great undisturbed burial chamber hidden deep within the ground. If he was right, the tomb would
be filled with priceless treasures: gold and gems, as well as a pharaoh’s mummy.

Howard Carter would be rich beyond his wildest dreams, and his dreams were indeed spectacular.

“The men have now gone down ninety-seven meters vertical drop,” Carter had written to Lady Amherst, his longtime patron, “and
still no end.” Indeed, when widened the narrow opening that he had stumbled upon revealed a network of tunnels leading farther
underground.

BOOK: The Murder of King Tut
2.89Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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