Melissa Yuan-Innes

Scorpion Scheme Melissa Yuan-Innes

PHARAOH'S TOMBS. ANCIENT MYTHS. MODERN-DAY MURDER

Dr. Hope Sze doesn't need a free trip to Egypt.

She can't afford the flight to Cairo, or the cruise down the Nile, so she'd keep studying in Canada-except her fiancé;, Dr. John Tucker, yearns to patrol the pyramids and confront the curse on King Tutankhamun's tomb.

So when a company offers them both a free stay in Cairo in exchange for a month's work in an emergency department, Tucker lobbies for a pre-honeymoon in the Valley of Kings and Queens, investigating the windswept temple of Hatshepsut, or scuba diving in the Red Sea. Instead, within 90 minutes of arrival, Hope drops to her knees outside the Grand Egyptian Museum, desperate to save a now-comatose 87-year-old Johannesburg man who'd raved about Kruger and treasure after receiving a nail through his skull.

Tucker fixates on their one chance at the legendary Kruger Millions, a rumoured fortune that many believe lies secretly stowed somewhere in South Africa.

Since their combined student debt load totals half a million dollars, Tucker can't pass up the possibility of a treasure trove in buried gold.

Hope launches into her first mystery based in a birthplace of human civilization.

Where the evil god Set battled righteous Horus and Isis in an 80-year war.

Where wealth and power clash with political revolution.

Where Antony fell in love with Cleopatra. Where Hope and Tucker must outwit, or fall prey, to a ruthless criminal mastermind.



"Bursting with murder, medicine, and mythology."-Dr. Mamta Gautam, author of Irondoc

ER meets Homeland in a frenetic Egyptian adventure. Hope Sze turns her medical crimefighting into an international incident. Terrorism, tombs, sarcasm, and sex.-Dr. Frank Warsh, author of Hippocrates: the Art and the Oath

Scorpion Scheme is top-notch historical crime fiction with a fabulous kick-ass female protagonist. The kind of book that you just can't put down. Scorpion Scheme is Robin Cook meets D. J. McIntosh's fabulous Mesopotamian trilogy but it delivers a stingingly good tale all on its own steam.-Lisa de Nikolits, author of The Rage Room

"From ancient artifacts to food truck finds and social media shenanigans, Hope Sze tackles it all ... in Egypt."-RH Nix, author of The Golden One

"Very exciting indeed."-Dr. Sarah Makhdoom



Praise for the Hope Sze series
#1 Mystery Selection-CBC Books, on Human Remains. Recommended authors also include Louise Penny and Maureen Jennings

One of the best Canadian suspense books recommended by Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail, on Human Remains

One of the best crime novels of the season.-CBC Radio's The Next Chapter Mystery Panel, on Stockholm Syndrome

The three intertwining mysteries and Hope herself provide a narrative by turns entertaining and insightful.-Publishers Weekly, on Terminally Ill

"Narrating in a sprightly style while sharing some of the nitty-gritty of a resident's job, Hope Sze is an utterly likeable character.-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

"Drawing on her personal experiences in the ER in Canada, Yi has created medical thrillers that shine with authenticity and are impossible to put down."-Kris Nelscott, New York Times bestseller