The Shadow 234 Temple of Crime

TEMPLE OF CRIME was originally published in the November 15, 1941 issue of The Shadow Magazine. The ancient Temple of Ammon has been brought from the sands of Egypt, stone by stone, and has been rebuilt on a millionaire's estate outside New York. It becomes a temple of crime as murder and horror reign among the cult worshipping the old Egyptian gods. Only The Shadow can lift the ancient curse that casts an evil gloom over all involved. Margo Lane has joined a cult. Done, of course, at the instruction of The Shadow. A wealthy American has started up an ancient Egyptian cult, the Cult of Ammon. The Shadow, seeing the potential for crime to rear its ugly head, has sent Margo Lane to infiltrate the group. Rather than try to observe from the outside, he prefers someone on the inside. And that someone is Margo Lane. Along with several dozen other Ammon worshippers, Margo has come to the great mansion outside New York. The estate is owned by Amru Monak, an extremely wealthy Egyptian who claims to be a direct descendant of the ancient pharaohs. On this estate, Monak has brought the Temple of Ammon. It has been brought from Egypt, carefully moved stone by stone, and set up in a poplar grove located within the high stone walls of his large estate. The temple building has an interesting history... and a curse attached! Originally, the Ammon temple had been unearthed from the Egyptian sands by the famous Dr. Karl Sterber, chief of an expedition funded by business magnate Uriah Keldon. This was about 1929. Inside the temple, he found the tomb of Mathrax, the keeper of the temple. The mummy case was opened; the mummy itself mysteriously disappeared shortly thereafter. The curse had begun. Keldon purchased the temple from the Egyptian government and had it moved to America where it sat in a warehouse awaiting reconstruction. But then the curse struck. First to fall under the spell of the curse was Dr. Sterber, head of the expedition. He died mysteriously while still in Egypt. It happened shortly after the mummy of Mathrax had disappeared from its case. Uriah Keldon was the next to go. Another mysterious death attributed to the curse of Mathrax. He never got to rebuilt his temple. The pieces sitting in storage were auctioned off and were purchased by Amru Monak. They were moved to his huge estate. Located just outside New York inside ten-foot-tall stone walls sat Monak's mansion. On the estate was a large grove of poplar trees. And nestled in the center of the grove, in a small clearing, Monak had the Temple of Ammon rebuilt. Rebuilt to exact specifications, following the blueprints of Dr. Karl Sterber who supervised the original deconstruction. With the temple completed, Monak decided to revive the ancient cult of Ammon and hold the old rituals once again within the temple. But with the resurrection of the cult, The Shadow has perceived the threat of more death and violence. He knows that the horrors of the alleged curse have not ended. Death will strike again! Margo Lane is dispatched to join the cult and keep an eye on developments. And in her first visit to the shrine, death strikes again. The cult makes its way slowly through the poplar grove shortly before dawn. The great doors slowly open of their own volition. Lead by Monak, the cult members enter the temple to perform their rites as the moon sets. As the ceremony reaches its peak, the first rays of Ammon-Ra, the sun god, pierce the small high windows of the stone temple. There is a shriek of anguish. A wild, high prolonged screech reverberates throughout the stone chamber. Before the pedestal that bears the large statue of Ammon lies a robed member of the cult, face down. From his back projects an ancient ceremonial knife, buried to the hilt. The curse has struck again! The dead man is Hugh Calbot. Calbot was the former secretary to old Uriah Keldon, original purchaser of the temple. It was Calbot who had arranged the final sale of the temple to Amru Monak, and who had joined the Ammon Cult only to find death. Calbot is dead, but he won't be the last to feel the weight of the curse of Mathrax. The Shadow is present, outside the temple hidden in the poplar grove. It will take all his cunning to discover the secrets of the temple and to dispel the curse that it casts upon the Cult of Ammon. Who is behind it all? Is there truly a curse? Could there be hidden treasures in the temple? Or other secrets of the ancients? By the story's end, The Shadow has discovered the sinister secrets. The Shadow knows! The entire story takes place within the high stone walls of the Monak estate. The action moves from the mansion to the poplar grove to inside the Temple of Ammon. The only time the story leaves the estate is a brief one-page visit to the local train station as Lamont Cranston fakes his departure, only to return as The Shadow. Other than that, everything happens on the estate. That gives the story a nice tight, suspenseful feeling. We are trapped on the grounds with an ancient curse threatening all. There's no escape. Margo Lane is the only agent of The Shadow who appears in this story. She only appeared in the pulp stories five months earlier in June 1941. But already, she is a capable agent who The Shadow takes into his confidences. She knows that Lamont Cranston is really The Shadow. He tells her: "You'll hear from me, Margo, but from now on, I'll be operating as The Shadow."And he also becomes The Shadow in her presence. In the night, Margo and Lamont talk out onto the verandah. Cranston pulls his black garments from their hiding place beneath the porch rail and puts them on in front of Margo. In the very early "Margo" stories, she didn't know of the Cranston disguise. Shortly after that, she began to suspect Cranston was an agent of The Shadow. But here, only five months after her introduction to the pulp series, she knows that Cranston is The Shadow in disguise. The only other recurring character who appears in this story is Inspector Joe Cardona of the New York Police. He shows up to help the local authorities with the strange death of Hugh Calbot, and is accompanied by Lamont Cranston. Cranston is there ostensibly to try to talk Margo out of joining the cult. Of course, his real reason for showing up is to receive her reports and to investigate the murder of Calbot. The Shadow only appears in his Cranston disguise in this story. Although he is an admitted master of disguise, there is no need for that ability here. So no other disguises are used in this story. The Shadow either appears as wealthy world-traveler Lamont Cranston, or as his true self dressed in black. World War II was raging in Europe when this story was published. The United Sates had not yet entered the war, but would shortly join the war-in-progress. Very shortly; it was only a matter of weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the U.S. into the war. Reference to the war was made in this story, as it was explained that the expedition to Egypt to discover and bring back the temple of Ammon had been years ago, before the war. "...today such things were out of the question because world conditions made it impossible to carry on such expeditions."We know from other Shadow novels that The Shadow is known the world over. In Spain, he is known as "El Ombre." In Mexico, he is "La Sombra." And in Egyptian, he is referred to as "Khaibet." Yes, he is known by various names in different parts of the world. The guy gets around! And now we know his Egyptian non-de-plume. And, adding to The Shadow's list of spoken and written languages, in this story we discover that The Shadow also speaks Egyptian and Greek. A true multi-lingual marvel. Brief mention is made of The Shadow's ability to become virtually invisible. Not truly invisible, like his radio counterpart. But the ability to be unnoticed by others, so as to be essentially unseen. It was an ability he learned in the Orient, and had seen practiced by Tibetan holy men. As this story explains: "Often, Lamont had claimed knowledge of the Tibetan system wherein, by becoming immobile and rendering one's thoughts a blank, a human being could put himself out of other minds and often escape notice of passers-by."This story has plenty of action; plenty of mystery; plenty of suspense. Egyptian mummies. Ancient curses. The Book of Thoth. Masks of Anubis, Hathor, Sobk, Pakht and a pantheon of other Egyptian deities. Stealthy, sinister Egyptian servants. Secret ceremonies. A poplar grove at midnight. Strange secrets of the temples. Stone figure that come to life. Yes, the ways of ancient Egypt are deep and mysterious, like the waters of the Nile. This is definitely one of the better Shadow mysteries. Especially coming from 1941, when much of the lustre of the earlier Shadow novels was wearing off. It's one that gets my recommendation!