Egypt’s Fire (The Curious League of Detectives and Thieves #1)

Phillips’s rollicking debut features 11–year-old John Boarhog, a clever orphan who lives in the ceiling of the fictional New York Museum of Natural History. After nearsighted museum director Victor van Eyck mistakes John for a museum custodian, he gives him an access code to the new Egyptology exhibit. Though John usually spends his nights reading books and avoiding detection, he begins browsing the artifacts, and when the exhibit’s crown jewel, a ruby of extraordinary beauty called Egypt’s Fire, is swapped for a fake, John is blamed and detained. He’s eventually released into the reluctant custody of the world’s best detective, Toadius McGee, and John—playing Watson to McGee’s Holmes—joins him in hair-raising escapades as they hunt for the real gem. Their investigation takes them from center stage at a Broadway musical to a speakeasy filled with purple-clad patrons, and their adventures are populated by a large, flamboyantly rendered cast (many of whom are described as having brown skin), which includes intrepid reporter Jaclyn Star and Pickles, an actor with a secret. Though abundant jokes sometimes overwhelm at the expense of plot, this laugh-out-loud caper, reminiscent of Lemony Snicket’s work, sits well among its madcap mystery cohort. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ann Rose, Prospect Agency. (June)