This is a novel about four children who started their own detective agencies! In this installment, the children are on a quest to find the killer of archeologist Dr. Thornsley. The story was very fast-paced. I liked the four main characters. They each had very distinct personalities. I also liked how it revolves around Egyptian archeology and was filled with little nuggets of Egyptian history.

Middle-grade students will be sure to find this novel a treasure! I recommend this for fans of The Boxcar Mysteries, The Hardy Boys Mysteries, and The Babysitter’s Club Mysteries! This novel was a real treat! I look forward to the next installment!

this was an enjoyable read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed that it could work as an all ages book.

A good fun read reminiscent of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mysteries. Ideal for the budding mystery reader.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which has not altered my opinion of this book.

I love mysteries and I love ancient history and so together it’s logical that they would be a lot of fun together. This story really did bring both aspects together, however the writing left something to be desired for me. I will say that there were plenty of fun facts and tidbits of information that I really appreciated, this was awesome and I learned quite a bit from the story. There’s also a solid mystery that I had nearly figured out by the end of the book. I liked the characters as well, they were interesting and unique and really smart, but didn’t always act like the kids they were.

The story took a bit of getting into and the characters were difficult for me to keep straight at several different points. That being said, they were smart and talked like dictionaries and almanacs which was helpful as far as learning but not quite as good for the plot. I understand the desire to keep facts true and not to overimgine anything but this story got a bit tiresome at points and I found myself getting stilled by the choppy writing.

All that being said, this was a solidly good mystery with a lot of interesting and fun information. I’m curious if there will be more books in the series, I would probably give it a shot so that I can see the change in characters, but we will see if that happens. Overall, 3.5 out of 5 from me.

Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets is the first book in a series about four pre-teen detectives: twins Lanny and Lexi and their best friends, Moki and Rani. Now, I did find the first third or so of the book pretty heavily descriptive: those sections weren't quite as elegant and flowing as the rest of the book, but I also realize they serve a very specific purpose. I also realize that this book was actually written for beings less than half my age (dear sweet Loki, what a thought), so I can't fault descriptive scene-setting in that context.

The characters themselves are really interesting:
they've been set up with very specific likes and dislikes, they're from different cultures (while Lanny and Lexi are, presumably, Caucasian American, Rani is Indian and Moki is Hawaiian), and their personalities fit together well in group settings. The book does are really good job at setting up the town they live in, the characters, and even the twins' parents' jobs (world traveling scholars) for further adventures, which I genuinely look forward to reading. There are also explicit references to Sherlock Holmes in the book, as the twins' detective hero, and you all know how much I love a Sherlock-adjacent tale.

The mystery itself is a good one - someone in the actual age bracket for a middle grade mystery would love it, and the themes of Ancient Egyptian history, mythology, and culture woven into it is educational as well as interesting. I remember being absolutely fascinated by Ancient Egypt as a child, so this book would have been absolutely bang on for a curious kid like myself. I'm still a curious kid, if we're being honest. The story has some exciting action-adventure bits, and a couple of young crushes - though that last is more of a castaway paragraph or two rather than an actual functioning part of the story, which brings me great joy, I don't think you even realize. More importantly (and despite a little repetitive writing), the mystery is wrapped up very nicely at the end: no stone unturned, no thread un-pulled.

I really, really enjoyed this book - I'm well pleased I was approved to review it, and I truly look forward to both being able to get this in hard copy, and reading the next books in the Botanic Hills Detectives series!

Well worth a read, people. Well worth a read.

Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets
(A Botanic Hill Detectives Mystery, #1)
by Sherrill Joseph

Acorn Publishing LLC
Middle Grade | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 01 Feb 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Nutmeg Streets Egyptian Secrets from Acorn Publishing and Netgalley:


If you have a middle grader who loves Mysteries or Thrillers the. Nutmeg Streets Egyptian Secrets is just the book for them.



Dr.Winston Thornsley a world famous Egyptologist died in disgrace a couple of months prior. Ida Thornsley his Widow does not believe her husband would have ever stole that burial urn that he discovered the previous summer. But the local as well as Federal law enforcement officers are stumped.



Out of desperation for andmswers no one seems to be able to find Mrs Thornsley calks in her thirteen years old neighbors, the Botanic Hills detectives, twins Lanny and Lexi Wyatt, Moki Kalani, and Rani Kumar. The exciting mission they are called on is to find the urn, and the person that really stole it so Dr Thornsley can be exonerated, the real criminal brought to justice, and Dr Thornsley's good name given back to him.



The savy teens will face a roomful of venomous snakes, an Egyptian ponds that's poisonous, and a dragon pit man are just some of the challenges awaiting these tech savvy teenagers. Just as the detectives begin to unravel the sinister plot, the mystery takes a dangerous turn. The answers are at their fingertips but first they must convince their parents to let them solve the case.


I give Nutmeg Streets, Egyptian Secrets five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Just no. I think the writer is trying to be current and culturally sensitive but fails on both. Law enforcement and professional researchers don’t randomly partner with children to solve murders. Why is the department head of a zoo meeting with 2 kids and discussing poison? Ugh. The story tone is both somehow childish and insulting. I originally thought it was written in the 1960’s or so and re-released. Why are 2 teen girls excited about doing house chores? Just no.

This is the first of a series with an already established group of friends who solve mysteries. They are official, with a name and credentials and past cases that we are only given glimpses of. The past will probably be referenced in future books in more detail to provide a better picture.

The pair of twins have parents who travel the world for their work and are well versed in most things Egyptian. The case that has been handed to them has to do with a missing urn, the disappearance of which was blamed on a friend of theirs. His widow now wants closure, and they aim to help. There are earthquakes, chase scenes and a thorough examination of all connected topics, especially snakes and the ending makes sense while being unexpected. Although I am not the target audience of this book, I still felt like there was a lot more telling than showing. The nuances of the scenes were told to us instead of being implicit. The children did seem a little on the nose, with the Hawaiian being the biggest and hungriest, the Indian in a Sari (and with previous direct experience with snakes). I agree with another reviewer here that very few thirteen-year-olds would wear a full saree (although my 5-year-old niece does have a custom fun-sized one, usually it is limited to adult women). There are these half saree versions if you are from the south which would have been more comfortable given the spread of the bottom part, or the 'skirt'. The author has actually responded to state that this is taken from an actual person of her acquaintance so that reaction is a moot one. 

Overall, it is a promising start, but the narrative style was not exactly my thing. I did like the premise and the potential within it, and I think people younger might like it to broaden their horizons, but slightly older ones might not require the amount of detail in the telling. 

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I felt like I was coming in the middle of a series and missed the first few books. The characters kept referencing other mysteries that they solved. I thought it was a little unbelievable that the police would allow teenagers to walk around a crime scene and help find evidence. I did like the characters and thought they were a lot of fun. I just think that the plot fell a little short for me.

I was a fan of the Three Investigators and was happy to find again some of the themes and the atmosphere in this book.
I had a lot of fun reading it and would like to read other books in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I usually love a good detective book and was really hopeful for this one as a start of a new series. Although I enjoyed the mystery aspect as the 4 teen detectives worked to solve the mystery surrounding their friends death and a missing Egyptian urn, I found some things unenjoyable. This is supposed to be the first of a series but I found during the beginning chapters that previous cases were described and I really felt like I was missing something about how the detectives club came to be. I also found it hard to believe the 4 detectives were found teens with how all four of them talk and act throughout the book.

When I was a child some of my favorite books were "Alfred Hitchcock and the three investigators" so when I learnt of "Nutmeg Street: Egyptian secrets" I knew this was right up my alley. In this first book in the Botanic Hill Mystery series, four teenage detectives have to uncover a thief and blackmailer while restoring one of their neighbors reputation.

Not only was this entertaining but also a tool for kids to learn about Ancient Egypt (one of my favorite themes), herpetology or Hawaiian language.

I think it was nice that the four main characters were from different cultures, making it appealing to a wider range of readers.

Although the plot was a bit predictable, you have to keep in mind that this is aimed to middle grade kids, not adults who have been reading mysteries for years (and that's directed to my almost 40 year old self).

This was a fun read perfect for young readers whom are discovering the pleasure of reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and Acorn Publishing LLC for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When their late friend Dr. T. is accused of theft and they hear he won't be honored at this years ceremony from the Egyptology department, it's clear that they have to solve the case. All four join forces, again, to help their friends.

I did not get along with this. At all.
I felt like it did too much at once, and the four main characters were at first much too mature for their ages, and then only felt like badly coloured-in paper cutouts. It was as if they were assigned prompts instead of characterisation, like the compulsion to state at every turn that you're from Hawaii, telling again and again that you like Sherlock Holmes.

The murder attempts were ridiculous. What kind of villain feels threatened when a bunch of children begin to ask questions and don't have any clue at all?

Good ideas, but I found the execution lacking up to a point at which I found myself being annoyed at yet another allusion to ancient Egypt, despite being that connection being the reason why I picked this up in the first place.

I feel like this book focuses more on exposition than what is happening in the story. A lot of what we know from the characters is what the author tells us, not in conversation, and everything is so convenient. There was so much exposition crammed into it, I wish the author just let everything play out, reveal things as needed not all at once. Odd problem to have for a mystery book.

As a fan of Nancy Drew and Clue Finders growing up, I was excited to dive into a new Middle Grade detective story. This cast of characters is so fun to read and the writing style is engaging for, in my opinion, a wide age range of readers. If you work with middle school children (or have children of your own) I highly recommend adding this one to your collection. This book had me engaged the entire story. There were moments of laughter and hilarity and the mystery itself is well executed as well.