City of the Dead

James Ponti's City of the Dead is a clever heist story for 9 year olds in which five young spies break into the British Museum on Bonfire Night.

What happens

This fourth City Spies story opens a hundred years in the past. In Egypt in 1922, a boy bringing water to a desert dig finds the first step down to Tutankhamen's tomb.

Then we jump to present-day London. MI6's team of young agents has been told to steal two Egyptian treasures from a museum exhibition. Nobody tells them why (spies aren't supposed to ask too many questions).

Kat is the alpha this time, so the plan is hers. She treats the whole thing like a giant maths problem. Then the computer servers they were relying on turn out to have vanished, and the plan starts to wobble.

Sydney is sulking because the mission means missing the fireworks. But she makes up a plan B on the spot, which involves chanting about Guy Fawkes next to the Rosetta Stone until security comes running. Is it a bit bonkers? Very. Does it work? You'll have to find out!

Later there's a creep through an old Tube tunnel, a couple of homemade bangers and Rio stuck in a wooden coffin that held a mummy for nearly three thousand years. He's NOT happy about that one.

There's lots of real history mixed in with the action. Guy Fawkes, the Rosetta Stone and the big argument about who should own treasures taken from other countries all come up. Sydney gets properly fired up about it, and a head of security tells her the world isn't as simple as she thinks.

What's lovely is how much the team look out for each other. Kat gets nervous and starts doubting herself, and the others keep telling her she's doing brilliantly. They bicker like brothers and sisters, and there's a running joke about Rio always being hungry.

If you've got a reader who loves puzzles, a bit of spooky history and a team that feels like a family, this one's very easy to like. The team's friendships build up over the series, so if your reader is new to them, start with book one, City Spies.

What to read next

For another girl who notices everything, with a priceless treasure about to go on show at her local museum, try Ruby Redfort: Look Into My Eyes. Ruby is a code-cracking whizz, and her town is buzzing about a jade Buddha that was dug out of a glacier.