Review: 'King's Shadow' chronicles unlikely treasure hunter

Historian Edmund Richardson recounts the story of the unlikeliest of archeological heroes in “The King's Shadow."

“The King’s Shadow” by Edmund Richardson (St. Martin’s Press)

Charles Masson isn't a household name, even for many avid readers of history, but it's easy to wonder why that's the case after reading “The King's Shadow."

Historian Edmund Richardson's book on Masson's search for the lost city Alexandria Beneath the Mountains is less about the treasure hunt and more about the unlikeliest of archeological heroes.

A deserter from the army for the East India Company in the 1800s, Masson wound up in Afghanistan and sought to find the remnants of the famed city that was part of Alexander the Great's sprawling empire.