 The books span a thirty-nine-year period from 1884 to 1923, which coincides with the period of the British administration of Egypt after the Anglo-Egyptian War.In earlier novels, Sir Evelyn Baring, Lord Cromer, the British consul general to Cairo and "de facto" ruler of the country at the time, makes occasional cameo appearances.The uneasy relationship between the Egyptians and their European administrators is a running theme throughout the series, especially with regards to foreign oversight of the Egyptian Service d'Antiquities and its allowance of foreign organizations to export artifacts out of Egypt to Europe and the United States rather than keeping them in Egypt.