Pharos is a very old Egyptian, at least ninety-years old, extremely knowledgeable about Egyptian antiquities. He meets Sir William Betford, a peer living in England, who owns an extensive collection of Egyptian antiquities collected earlier by his father, an historian and archeologist who focused on ancient Egypt. The meeting was contrived by Pharos because he wanted to retrieve a mummy he had been searching for a long time, which is now in Betford's collection. Pharos manages to lure Sir Betford into his sphere of influence, and eventually persuades Englishman to accompany him on a trip to Egypt, where it turns out that Pharos is not who he seems to be.

Guy Newell Boothby is a prolific Australian novelist and writer. He is best known for such works as the Dr Nikola series, about an occultist criminal mastermind, and Pharos, the Egyptian, a tale of Gothic Egypt, mummies' curses and supernatural revenge.