The Golden Child — Penelope Fitzgerald

This “classically plotted British mystery” by the Booker Prize-winning author of The Blue Flower is “leavened by a wicked sense of rapier-like humor” (The New York Times Book Review).
 
In The Golden Child, Penelope FitzGerald combines a deft comedy of manners with a tense mystery set in London's most refined institution: the Museum. When the glittering treasure of ancient Garamantia -- the Golden Child -- is delivered, the Museum is guaranteed an exhibition as popular as King Tut. But soon a web of intrigue tightens around the Museum's personnel, especially the hapless junior officer Waring Smith. Then, while prowling the halls one night, Waring is nearly strangled.
 
Two suspicious deaths ensue. And as a murderous conspiracy is traced all the way to the Kremlin, only the cryptic hieroglyphics of the Garamantes can bring an end to the mayhem. Along the way, everyone from art critics to the police and “a few nicely Wodehousian oddballs” fall under Fitzgerald's mercilessly satirical eye (Kirkus).