A severed hand at Port Said.

Another at Tilbury.

And between them, aboard the MS Khedive Star, Professor Edward Marchmont carries a secret that men are willing to kill for.

Journalist Brennan is returning from Egypt after investigating the illicit antiquities trade when the first attack occurs. No weapon is found. No attacker is seen. The wound is clean, impossible, and horribly precise — like the stroke of a scimitar.

Then a young woman with violet eyes leaves Brennan a warning on pale amethyst paper:

Persuade Marchmont to surrender what he has stolen, or no power on earth can save him from the Scimitar of Yusuf.

Marchmont’s confession is worse than Brennan expects. During a restricted scholarly visit, he stole a sacred slipper believed by many to be associated with the Prophet Muhammad. Now a self-styled fraternity calling itself the Hashishin has come to reclaim it, led by Yusuf of Aleppo — a man who has made himself judge, guardian, and executioner.

But Yusuf’s order is not the only force seeking the relic. A hidden woman, a secretive Englishman, Scotland Yard, and Brennan himself are drawn into a struggle where scholarship, faith, theft, murder, and restitution collide.

From a locked study in Dulwich to a museum safe, from silent assassins hidden in plain sight to a final confrontation beyond London, THE SCIMITAR OF YUSUF is an atmospheric thriller of sacred objects and private vengeance — where the question is not only who owns the relic, but what justice remains after blood has been spilled in its name.