Shadows on the Nile

At age seven, Jessie Kenton’s upper-middle-class London world revolved around her emotionally disturbed younger brother, Georgie. One night, with no explanation, their parents took Georgie away, “replacing” him with an orphan boy named Timothy, whom they had adopted. After the initial pain of separation, Jessie gradually warmed to Timothy, but never forgot Georgie. Twenty years later, in 1932, Timothy, now an up-and-coming archaeologist, has disappeared, leaving behind cryptic clues for Jessie taken from their favorite Sherlock Holmes novels. She quickly deduces that he’s in Egypt and leaves for Cairo to try and track him down. With Egypt shaking off the last footholds of British colonialism and artifact smugglers lurking in the shadows, Jessie faces danger at every turn. What’s more, she doesn’t yet know that Timothy has forged a strange, but durable, bond with Georgie, and that finding answers to one brother’s disappearance will lead to a new understanding of what happened to the other. Furnivall laces this fast-paced historical adventure with surprisingly poignant interludes that ultimately connect to the family mystery at its heart. There are a few awkward plot twists, and a largely superfluous romantic subplot, but that won’t keep readers from connecting deeply with the Kenton siblings. Agent: Teresa Chris, Teresa Chris Literary Agency. (Oct.)