3AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD SEMI-FINALIST. - Egypt, 18th Dynasty. Queen Tiye, the mother Tutankhamun, prepares to die. She writes a final letter to her young son, then speaks to her brother. "When my time is come, you will bury me in a bath of restorative oils. It will be done while the breath of life is still in me." - Cairo Museum, 1983. Rika Teferi is studying a papyrus written by Queen Tiye when an accident exposes hidden writing. Aching to see more, Rika agrees to let visiting geologist, David Chamberlain, smuggle out the papyrus to scan it with specialized equipment. The results are stunning. They re-write Egypt's history and reveal the bizarre circumstances of Tiye's last days.

Rika, an ex-sharpshooter in Eritrea's independence war, feels a spiritual bond with Tiye, who was also a revolutionary. Rika and David resolve to find Tiye's tomb. Their quest takes them deep into the harsh desert of the sudan where unforeseen perils force Rika to choose among her love of Queen Tiye, allegiance to Eritrea, and David.

Readers love the action-packed adventure, the dips into Queen Tiye's time, the beauty of the African deserts, the sights and sounds of the Cairo bazaar, and the endearing sidekicks: Hagazy, David's young Egyptian driver, and Blue, the Australian "wild man."

John Oehler is a bestselling, multiple award-winning author. PAPYRUS was a SEMI-FINALIST in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Competition. He has also won 1st PLACE in the Pacific NW Writers Association Fiction Competition and has been awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion and named as an Eric Hoffer Finalist. His other novels include APHRODESIA: Death by Passion, TEPUI: The Last Expedition, and EX LIBRIS: The Forbidden Books.