Beneath the Pyramid, Christian Jacq

Condition: GOOD 

Paperback 

JUDGE OF EGYPT TRILOGY #1 

From the cover: 

Summoned to investigate the mysterious deaths of five guards standing watch over the great tomb of Kheops, a young novice judge from a small village near Thebes is dismayed to find the teeming city of Memphis a hotbed of greed and corruption.  And that’s by no means all.  Judge Pazair’s refusal to sign an administrative document he does not understand leads him to stumble upon a monstrous plot to assassinate the pharaoh, Ramses the Great.  

With the aid of Neferet, the woman he loves, and his blood brother, Suti, who has fled the scribes’ school in search of wine, women and glory, Judge Pazair sets out to uncover the truth and rescue the pharaoh from a gruesome fate. 

An impossible love, an attempt to overthrow the State, a series of brutal murders and the triumph of lies: can a young, inexperienced judge really succeed against the odds – and stay alive in the process?