When an acquaintance is robbed and murdered, scientist Anlon Cully and detective Jennifer Stevens suspect they know the motive for the crimes. But then Anlon's companion Pebbles McCarver is kidnapped, changing everything. For the puppet master behind Pebbles' capture is a ten-thousand-year-old tyrant who demands an impossible ransom -- the return of an ancient relic lost to the ages -- leading Anlon and Jennifer on a desperate quest to find the relic and rescue Pebbles before the tyrant adds Pebbles to her long list of victims. Part murder mystery, part fantasy adventure, Curse of the Painted Lady is a continuation of the archaeological mystery explored in Shadows of the Stone Benders and Race for the Flash Stone, the first two books in the Anlon Cully Chronicles series.