Recently-widowed Renisenb, the only daughter of the mortuary priest Imhotep, returns to her father's estate after eight years' absence. Besides her father and a considerable staff of servants, the other inmates of the house include her wise grandmother Esa, her quiet elder brother Yahmose and his domineering wife Satipy, her brash second brother Sobek and his slow-witted wife Kait, and her spoiled younger brother Ipy. Though disgusted by the malicious gossip of her late mother's old relation Henet, who disguises her activities by professing constant love and devotion to the family, Renisenb is glad to be home; however, Imhotep's scribe Hori warns Renisenb that there is rottenness somewhere beneath the surface. Imhotep returns from visiting his northern estate, bringing with him a second scribe Kameni, who begins to fall in love with Renisenb. Imhotep also brings home a new young concubine, Nofret. Esa warns Imhotep that he is making a mistake; soon afterwards, Nofret begins deliberately antagonizing the family and turning Imhotep against them. Renisenb tries to befriend Nofret, but is coldly rebuffed. When Nofret reports to Imhotep that Satipy and Kait have been unkind to her, Imhotep threatens to disown all his sons. Nofret is later found dead, having apparently fallen from a narrow cliff path leading to the tombs. Satipy begins to act uncharacteristically nervous and submissive. Some time after Nofret's funeral, Renisenb and Hori see Satipy and Yahmose walking on the path to the tombs. Satipy looks back, apparently sees something beyond Yahmose, backs away in terror, and falls from the cliff. Renisenb rushes to Satipy, and hears her utter the word "Nofret" before she dies. The family therefore assumes that Satipy pushed Nofret off the cliff, and that Nofret's ghost has exacted revenge. Later, Yahmose and Sobek are poisoned, the latter fatally. A servant boy claims to have seen a woman, dressed in Nofret's clothes, doing something to the men's wine; the same boy is found dead of a
poppy juice overdose the next morning. Esa confers with Hori and Renisenb, and explains she believes someone in the house instructed the servant boy to lie about seeing Nofret's ghost, then silenced him. Ipy, who has begun to boast that he will take Yahmose and Sobek's place, seems a likely suspect, but he is later found drowned in the lake. Esa gathers the family and accuses Henet of concealing dangerous knowledge; afterwards, in private, Esa and Hori discover they both suspect the same person, but have no proof. Kameni offers to marry Renisenb and take her away for her safety; her father persuades her to agree, though her affections are torn between Kameni and Hori. Renisenb later learns that Kameni and Nofret had known each other in the North, and that Nofret's bitterness stemmed from her unrequited love for Kameni. The same evening, Renisenb finally gets Henet to admit she hates, rather than loves, the family. Some time later, Esa's
unguent is poisoned, and she dies. Renisenb receives a message to meet Hori at the tombs; after she leaves, Henet is smothered to death. At the cliffs, Renisenb is attacked by Yahmose, before Hori shoots him dead with an arrow. Hori explains that Yahmose, constantly browbeaten by Satipy, his brothers, and his father, had long harboured a festering hatred, and finally snapped at the threat of being disinherited. He had thrown Nofret from the cliff, with Satipy as a witness; she became terrified of her husband, eventually realized he intended to kill her as well, and backed off the cliff while trying to escape him (it was he, not anything beyond him, that she looked at in horror). Yahmose then poisoned Sobek and mildly poisoned himself, exaggerating the symptoms, to divert suspicion from himself. Having acquired a taste for violence, he had poisoned the servant boy, drowned Ipy, and intended to kill Renisenb as well so he could be the sole heir of Imhotep's wealth. He also removed Esa and Henet - Henet having conspired with him to kill Renisenb - to safeguard himself. Now that the threat is gone, Renisenb realizes that it is Hori, not Kameni, that she truly loves. The two embrace as the sun sets. ==Characters in
Death Comes as the End==