Agatha, Girl of Mystery #1 - The Curse of the Pharaoh

Okay, I suppose it was time to finally getting around to reading this series. I bought this book back in 2013, when it was first published here in the States (yes, this is another foreign series that has been republished here in the United States under a different title, similar to the Murder Most Ladylike series that was relabeled the Wells & Wong Mysteries here).  I continue to buy all ten books in this series as they were published, but I never got around the reading them.  Well, I guess a decade of waiting is long enough, so time to read them!  Originally published in France as the Agatha Mistery series, "Agatha, Girl of Mystery" was originally advertised as an exciting new girl detective "with the smarts of Nancy Drew and the charm of Eloise" (from the back cover of this first book).  Obviously, this tagline had me curious - and the fact that each book is set in a different locale around the world (similar to the "Greetings from Somewhere" series I previously read) convinced me to pick up the series.

The Curse of the Pharaoh introduces readers to twelve-year old Agatha Mistery, daughter of globe-trotting parents who think nothing of leaving their pre-teen child in the care of the family's trusted butler, Chandler.  Although barely in middle school, young Agatha already knows she wants to be a successful mystery writer when she grows up (hmmmm, does the name "Agatha" ring any bells?), so she is always ready to turn anything into a mystery.  A mysterious package she receives from her traveling parents would seem to indicate a mystery, but it's actually her cousin, Dashiell Mistery (yet another familiar mystery name, eh?), a fourteen-year old slacker who is studying at the Eye International Detective Academy, who brings her a mystery to solve!  It seems the school has given him a project that he must complete in three days or he will fail the course - so, needless to say, he calls on Agatha to help him solve the case.

What is the case, you ask?  Well, our intrepid sleuths must find out who stole an ancient tablet from an archaeological site, recover the tablet so the archaeologists can locate the missing tomb, and capture the thieves.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Oh, there is one more thing.  They are warned to beware of Tutankhamen's curse!

The story is simple and fun, and the characters are a hoot.  Agatha is endearing, Dash is somewhat annoying, Chandler is the ever-loyal one, Aunt Patricia is fun-loving, and Watson (if you don't recognize that one, why are you reading mysteries?), Agatha's unusually quiet and calm cat who travels with her everywhere she goes, is ... well, he's just sort of there.  More often than not, the reader will not even remember he is there.  The three professors the kids meet when visiting the dig site in Egypt are somewhat stereotypical - each as different from the other as could possibly be.  There's also a fourth man at the site, a local man, who does not quite fit in with the rest.  Agatha quickly discerns that the tablet was not taken by someone outside the dig, and she puts a plan in motion to have the culprit reveal himself, one that, quite frankly, is worthy of the queen of crime herself (you know who I'm talking about here...after all, she shares the same name as our title character here!).

At only 133 pages, with larger font and plenty of beautiful illustrations by Stefano Turconi, the book is a pretty easy read. However, even though it is aimed at young readers, it is still entertaining and has a pretty well-thought-out plot.  If this first book is any indication of what the rest of the series is like, then I have no doubt I'm in from some great reading!

RATING:  8 ice cream pop eating professors out of 10 for a great start to a new little series for young readers with a very likeable amateur sleuth!