Someone--or something--is slaying innocent persons on the night streets in the royal city of Memphis. Frightened citizens believe it is the gruesome work of the Devourer, the eater of souls, one of the most fearsome gods in the Egyptian pantheon. Even Lord Meren, the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh, is baffled by this series of horrific crimes whose victims have only one thing in common: the grisly manner of their deaths. Is the evildoer truly the Devourer, risen from the netherworld, or just a mere mortal? Between Lord Meren and the truth lie dangerous mysteries--in the city's back alleys and in the bosom of his own noble family. . . .