Summary
Egyptian artifacts intended for the Braintree Museum in Washington, D.C. are stolen. Mysterious figures from ancient Egypt are sighted at night, people are murdered, a mummy speaks and walks, people have terrible headaches and seem to be taken over by their pre-incarnations as ancient Egyptians. The "Blood Ring" is set with a pink cornelian stone that is made blood red and filled with power if it is dipped in human blood every 48 hours.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father. As the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, Washington is an important world political capital. The city is also one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million tourists annually.
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in the place that is now the country Egypt. Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes. The history of ancient Egypt occurred as a series of stable kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.
A mummy is a deceased human or an animal whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least 1615 AD.
Nellie Gray is prominent on the list of intended sacrifices, and Smitty, rescuing her at one point, Samson-like, pulls down a reproduction Egyptian temple in the museum. Josh guards the Egyptian exhibit at night after a guard is killed and another quits; realistically nervous, he displays none of the typical feet-shuffling eye-rolling mannerisms often found in the pulps of this time.
Samson was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible and one of the last of the leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution of the monarchy. He is sometimes considered to be an Israelite version of the popular Near Eastern folk hero also embodied by the Sumerian Enkidu and the Greek Heracles.
Benson's scientific sleuthing reveals that Egyptian symbolism, drugs, hypnosis, and technology were used by the villain as part of a blackmail scheme. Typically, Benson turns the villain and his gang against one another, and tricks them into dying in their own death trap.
A villain is an "evil" fictional character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The antonym of a villain is a hero.
Duat was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It has been represented in hieroglyphs as a star-in-circle: 𓇽. The god Osiris was believed to be the lord of the underworld since he personified rebirth and life after death, being the first mummy as depicted in the Osiris myth. The underworld was also the residence of various other gods along with Osiris. The Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east each night, and it was where he battled Apophis, who embodied the primordial chaos which the sun had to defeat in order to rise each morning and bring order back to the earth. It was also the place where people's souls went after death for judgement, though that was not the full extent of the afterlife. Burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the Duat, and the ꜣḫ "the effectiveness of the dead", could use tombs to travel back and forth from the Duat.
The ancient Egyptians believed that a soul was made up of many parts. In addition to these components of the soul, there was the human body.
The Spider is an American pulp-magazine hero of the 1930s and 1940s.
The Avenger is a fictional character whose original adventures appeared between September 1939 and September 1942 in the pulp magazine The Avenger, published by Street & Smith. Five additional short stories were published in Clues Detective magazine (1942–1943), and a sixth novelette in The Shadow magazine in 1943. Newly written adventures were commissioned and published by Warner Brother's Paperback Library from 1973 to 1974. The Avenger was a pulp hero who combined elements of Doc Savage and The Shadow.
Moon Knight is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, the character first appeared in Werewolf by Night #32.
Thoth-Amon is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. He is an evil wizard in "The Phoenix on the Sword", the first of the Conan the Cimmerian stories. He is often used as Conan's arch-nemesis in derivative works, but the two characters never met in any of Howard's original stories.
"Justice, Inc." is the first pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the September 1, 1939 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.
The Sky Walker is the third pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the November 1, 1939 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.
"The Devil's Horns" is the 4th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the December 1, 1939 issue of "The Avenger" magazine.
"The Frosted Death" is the fifth pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the January 1, 1940 issue of The Avenger magazine.
"The Glass Mountain" is the 8th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the April 1, 1940 issue of The Avenger magazine.
"Stockholders in Death" is the 8th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the April 1, 1940 issue of “The Avenger” magazine. The novel was republished under its original title by Paperback Library on December 1, 1972.
Tuned for Murder is the 9th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the May 1, 1940 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.
The Smiling Dogs is the 10th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the June 1, 1940 issue of The Avenger magazine.
"The River of Ice" is the 11th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the July 1, 1940 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.
"The Flame Breathers" is the 12th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the September 1, 1940 issue of "The Avenger” magazine. With this issue, The Avenger magazine switched to a bi-monthly schedule.
"Murder on Wheels" is the 13th pulp magazine story to feature The Avenger. Written by Paul Ernst, it was published in the November 1, 1940 issue of "The Avenger” magazine.
Radioactive Man is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics: Chen Lu and Igor Stancheck.
The French fictional character Judex is a mysterious avenger who dresses in black and wears a slouch hat and cloak, created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bernède. Originally conceived as a heroic version of the criminal character Fantômas, Judex appears to have been an inspiration for the American pulp hero The Shadow, who was himself an inspiration for Batman. Judex shares the name with a brilliant chef in the Philippines whom Rocky will marry soon.
The Moon Man is a fictional pulp magazine character who appeared in Ten Detective Aces magazine, published by A.A. Wyn's Ace Magazines. He was a pulp hero in the Robin Hood mold. Frederick C. Davis (1902–1977) created the character and wrote all the original stories under his own name. Davis, who after his time as pulp writer had a long career as a mystery novelist, generally wrote under various pen names.
