THE IDEA FOR this book emerged from a long, rather convoluted conversation I had three years ago with Polly Shulman, who was then at Discover magazine. I had just returned from the Mummy Congress, almost feverish with excitement over the wonderful stories I’d heard there, and as we talked, Polly glimpsed the germ of a book in my ramblings. Soon after, she mentioned the idea to one of her colleagues at Hyperion. I am exceedingly grateful to her.
I am also deeply in debt to Will Schwalbe at Hyperion, whose canny insights, probing questions, and judicious eye have so helped in guiding and shaping this book. I feel extremely fortunate to have worked with such a superb editor. I also want to extend my gratitude to Anne McDermid, a true force of nature and a wonderful literary agent who has been unstinting in her efforts on my behalf.
Sincere thanks also go to Wayne Grady and his colleagues at Equinox magazine, who dispatched me and photographer Peter Bennett to Egypt to cover the research at Dahkleh, and to Natalia Dobrynin, who was such good company in Moscow and graciously smoothed the waters there.
I also want to extend my deep gratitude to the many mummy experts who so generously gave of their time and helped me with this book. In addition to all those I describe or profile in these pages, there were many, many more researchers who patiently answered my letters and e-mails, guided me about on extended mummy tours, and, in ways too numerous to mention, immensely improved the quality of this book. I would particularly like to thank Salima Ikram, Eve Cockburn, Peter Lewin, Renate Germer, Gayle Gibson, Robert Sharf, Pia Bennike, Harco Willems, Maarten Raven, Otto Appenzeller, Renée Friedman, Bernard Faure, Wolfgang Pirsig, Olaf Kaper, Ronn Wade, Teodoro Hampe-Martinez, Trish Biers, Rose Tyson, María Begona del Casal Aretxabaleta, Niels Lynnerup, Gino Fornaciari, Wang Binghua, Xu Yongqing, Joanna Mountain, Richard Neave, Dieter Kessler, Diane Flores, Tony Mills, and El Molto.
Both Guido Lombardi and Pat Horne deserve special gratitude for all the digging up of obscure quotes and for repeatedly pointing me in the right direction in my research. And I would very much like to thank all the scientists who were kind enough to read through various portions of the text and correct my factual errors. This book has benefited enormously from their labors. The final responsibility for mistakes and omissions rests firmly, however, with the author.
Finally, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to those who listened almost daily to my tales of the dead and to my moans about the difficulties of doing their stories justice: John Masters, Andrew Nikiforuk, Alex Pringle, and Kathleen Hodgson. Thanks are also due to Wendy Falconer and Mac McKinna, who generously shared their digs and their bountiful knowledge of London with me. Most of all, however, I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to my husband, Geoff Lakeman, who listened to the most appalling stories of death and decay over the dinner table each night, then spiced them with his wit and humor. He now knows far more about mummies than he ever wanted to.