Museum Mystery Squad and the Case of the Hidden Hieroglyphics

Museum Mystery Squad #2

by Mike Nicholson, Mike Phillips (Illustrator)

Some people think that museums are boring places full of glass cases, dust and stuff no-one cares about: wrong! In a hidden headquarters below the exhibits there's a gang ready to handle dangerous, spooky or just plain weird problems: the Museum Mystery Squad. Techie-genius Nabster, mile-a-minute Kennedy, and sharp-eyed Laurie (along with Colin the hamster!) are on hand to tackle the surprising conundrums happening at the museum. From moving pre-historic creatures and secret Egyptian code breaking to missing treasure and the secrets of the famous, there's no brain-twisting, totally improbable puzzle the Squad can't solve. -------------- Hieroglyphics: hard to spell and even harder to decode! When a strange message is found hidden on the casket of Pharaoh Raneb, the Museum Mystery Squad must crack a code nobody's seen since ancient Egyptian times. But this mummy's keeping mum. The Squad are not the only ones working on the mystery: they meet Egyptian expert Professor Peter Gyptex, and the very odd Vera Damclot, a fan of mummified cats. Can the Squad reveal the mummy's secret before it unravels? ------------------- Young readers will love the riddles, red herrings and big reveals jam-packed into this fun-filled series of mystery stories by Mike Nicholson. The enjoyable extras like wacky facts and activities, as well as zany illustrations by Mike Phillips, will keep amateur detectives entertained for hours.

128 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2017

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed for School Library Journal, August 2017

Gr 1-3 –A museum becomes the perfect mystery setting for this new series from Scotland. The detectives are three friends dubbed the “Museum Mystery Squad”: Kennedy, Nabster, and Laurie. Kennedy is the organizer and the quick thinker, Nabster is the technical expert, and Laurie knows how to ask the direct questions. The squad reports to the museum director, Magda Gaskar. In the Case of the Hidden Hieroglyphics, a secret message is discovered on a mummy, and Magda Gaskar asks the kids to decode it. This doesn’t sit well with Professor Gyptex, a visiting Egyptologist who is not quite what he seems. The book is full of interesting facts about hieroglyphics, and features an opportunity for readers to try their hand at decoding. In the Case of the Moving Mammoth, the world famous Dinosaur Circus is appearing in Edinburgh. While there are no real dinosaurs on display, there is a gigantic, stuffed woolly mammoth named Moth being housed at the museum. Shockingly, Moth seems to move at night when the museum is closed, and the squad is tasked with solving this conundrum. The book contains facts about animals and even a short quiz to determine which Mystery Squad member the reader most resembles. Each book is replete with black-and-white illustrations, along with quizzes, games, and brain teasers that will definitely engage young readers. VERDICT: A strong series to add to early chapter book collections and an easy fit for fans of “A to Z Mysteries” and “Nate the Great.”–Amy Nolan, St. Joseph Public Library, MI

[aem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute juvenile book