City of the Muse

City of the Muse is a mystery for lovers of Egypt history.

Told in dual timelines in the early 1900's and 2019, I loved the story's brief Toronto connection and how it centres on the perspectives of two strong female characters who are connected to a 120-year-old murder at an ancient Egyptian site.

Egyptology is fascinating but the extent of my knowledge is visiting the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. I was eager to learn more and through this story I now know about papyrology (the study of ancient papyrus) and have a greater understanding of the experience of female archaeologists and papyrologists who worked in the very male-dominated business of unearthing and preserving Egyptian history and its relics. 

The mystery was more of a slow-burn kind that simmers in the background before revealing itself later on. What shines is Hilton's passion for Egyptian history as she creates a very atmospheric story, bringing her readers to dig sites to witness power struggles and the flippancy of the wealthy elite who fund excavations for their own greedy benefit with little regard to preserving history.  

This is an atmospheric tale of buried mysteries, murder, stolen relics, Egyptian curses and women in STEM going up against the 'boys club' in the very male-dominated field of Egyptology. 

I had the pleasure of seeing this author at an event last weekend. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the author for sending me a trade paperback copy of this book which was gifted in exchange for my honest review. 

My Rating: 3.75 stars

Author: Kate Hilton

Genre: Historical mystery

Type and Source: Trade paperback from author

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada

First Published: April 14, 2026

Read: April 14 - May 1, 2026

Book Description from GoodReads: For fans of The Lost Apothecary, a gripping dual-timeline novel about the mysterious death of an indomitable female papyrologist during an archaeological dig in the early 1900s and an aspiring young female researcher’s present-day quest to find out who killed her.

An ill-fated dig. An ancient city believed to be cursed. And a century-old mystery at the heart of it all.

Egypt, 1903: When renowned papyrologist Helen Gardiner arrives at an excavation site in the ancient city of Calliopolis, she learns that she has been given the job because her predecessor has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. One of the only women on the dig, Helen—tasked with restoring and cataloguing the thousands of papyrus fragments recovered at the site—soon discovers that there’s more to Calliopolis than meets the eye. The archaeologists on the dig, mostly men, all have not only their own towering egos, but their own agendas, including secrets they might kill to protect.

Toronto, 2019: Archivist Maddie Sloan is at a dead she feels like her academic career is stalled, and she’s still healing from her recent breakup with her former partner, Ben. To make matters worse, Ben still works with Maddie’s father, a famous archaeologist, and with whom Maddie has had a major falling out. It feels like her father has chosen Ben over her.

When famous TV archaeologist Peter Bahar arrives at the Toronto Archaeological Museum to verify the provenance of objects from their Egyptian collection believed to be from Calliopolis, Maddie jumps at the opportunity. After all, she has her own ties to the Cursed City of Calliopolis through her grandmother, Iris, who worked at the site. As Maddie and Peter begin digging into the objects and circumstances surrounding the excavation, they learn that two papyrologists seem to have abruptly disappeared from the dig without explanation. Suddenly, a search for providence becomes a quest to uncover a history shrouded in secrets and lies—and a murder that has been covered up for more than a century.