The sudden and mysterious appearance of an ancient statue provokes disturbing questions by the curator of a West Coast museum. What is its origin? Was it really in the family of an English lord, or is there a darker history behind it? Jason Connor is no stranger to the craft of intelligence. The leads he develops take him to Sicily, then into an Italian prison and the private quarters of a London dealer. Soon he uncovers a deep conspiracy that extends closer to home than he could have imagined and leads to a deadly pursuit by killers sent to silence him. Dark Athena is an archaeological thriller, with surprises at every turn and an unexpected twist at the end.
About the Author: Arthur Houghton's career has spanned diplomacy, scholarship, the museum field, business and creative writing. With degrees from Harvard College and the American University of Beirut, he entered the U.S. Department of State in 1966, where he held assignments in Beirut, Amman, Cairo and Washington, D.C. He returned to Harvard to secure a second degree in art history in 1981 and served as Associate Curator and Curator in Charge of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum from 1982 to 1986. He has been a member of archaeological, museum, geographic and cultural organization boards, including the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the Cyprus-American Archaeological Research Institute, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the American Numismatic Society, the Middle East Institute and the Committee for Cultural Policy, among others. He was founder and president of a Washington D.C.-based consulting firm that partnered US and Middle Eastern businesses. His public service has included membership on the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee and on the U.S. Mint's Citizens Coin Advisory Committee. He was the recipient of the American Foreign Service Association's Averell Harriman award for constructive dissent (sometimes known as the "stick your neck out" award). Houghton is the author of four books and some sixty articles on ancient coinages and economics. Dark Athena, his first novel, draws on his personal knowledge of the Getty Museum scandals and the resulting changes of US and foreign cultural property laws. A second novel, The Genesis Cipher is to follow.