The Scorpion’s Bite by Aileen G. Baron

In Aileen G. Baron’s The Scorpion’s Bite, it is 1943 and the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan, to do an archaeological survey for the OSS, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archeology in Jerusalem, in the beautiful, silent, Trans-Jordanian desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia still lingers.

Two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to the ports on Mediterranean, one through one through Trans-Jordan that supplies the Allies, the other through Syria that supplies the Nazis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline.

Lily discovers their real mission is to help safeguard the Trans-Jordan pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis through Syria. At the same time Lily learns of a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year old King Faisal of Iraq and take over Iraq. Now, Lily and Gideon must act to protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq.

Wealth of action and fascinating setting…(Michele Leber, Booklist)

A retired Near Eastern archaeologist, Aileen G. Baron is the author of A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes, and The Torch of Tangier, set in the Middle East during WW II, featuring archeologist Lily Sampson. In The Scorpion’s Bite, the third book in the Lily Sampson series, out in August, 2010. Lily is doing an archaeological survey of Trans-Jordan for the OSS. The Gold of Thrace, also published by Poisoned Pen Press, is a contemporary stand-alone about the intrigue and deceit in the antiquities trade. She is currently working on another book featuring Tamar Saticoy, the protagonist of The Gold of Thrace.