I’m so pleased to share this long-awaited release with all of you today! Nutmeg: Egyptian Secrets by Sherrill Joseph is the perfect MG mystery for readers! Read on for an exclusive excerpt and a chance to win the most amazing giveaway!
Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets by Sherrill Joseph
(A Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries #1)
Publication Date: February 1st, 2020
Genre: MG/ Middle Grade/ Mystery (Ages 9 – 12)
World-famous Egyptologist Dr. Winston Thornsley died suddenly two months ago in disgrace. His widow, Ida Thornsley, remains convinced her husband was falsely accused of stealing an ancient burial urn he discovered in Egypt last summer, but local and federal law enforcement officers are stumped.
Mrs. Thornsley, desperate for answers, calls in her thirteen-year-old neighbors, the Botanic Hill Detectives—twins Lanny and Lexi Wyatt, Moki Kalani, and Rani Kumar. Their exciting mission? To find the urn and its real thief, bring the criminal to justice, and exonerate Dr. Thornsley so his spotless reputation can be restored.
A roomful of venomous snakes, the poisoned Egyptian pond, and Dragon Pit Man are just a few of the tests awaiting the four tech-savvy teenagers. As the detectives begin to unravel the sinister plot, the mystery takes a dangerous turn. Answers are at their fingertips—if they can only convince their parents to let them solve the case.
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From Chapter 4
“Here we go again. An aftershock! I’ve been afraid this would happen,” said Dr. Kurtz. She rapidly surveyed the room full of terrariums. “And one of my assistants just called to say he’s found a somewhat hidden but large crack from this morning’s tremor on one of our venomous snake enclosure’s glass panes. It’s a major emergency. Come out with me quickly boys—now! I have to attend to this immediately,” she shouted behind her, as she grabbed her tool bag, yanked open the heavy door, and fled outside and down the breezeway to the enclosure.
Unfortunately, Moki and Lanny weren’t as fast as Dr. Kurtz. The door banged shut in their surprised faces and locked. They were trapped in a windowless room.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the power failed simultaneously, and the room went pitch black. Both boys froze, helplessly surrounded by three walls of venomous snakes they could still hear but no longer see.
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This book was received from the Author/Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This was such a fun and easy middle grade read. The four kids who make up the Botanic Hill Detectives are a very diverse group. So you not only learn about Egyptian Mythology in this story you learn about the other cultures of these kids. It is done in such a way that it is not overwhelming and kids will learn and not even realize how much they are learning.
The mystery was intriguing and I enjoyed watching how the kids came to come of the conclusions and how they were always reminded that they needed facts and they could not just run off with assumptions alone.
The only thing that bothered me was that there were times when the kids read older than they were. I felt like I had to remind myself how old these characters really were.
All in all, this is a great middle grade read for anyone who likes a good mystery.
Sherrill Joseph’s debut novel, Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets, had been inside her head for decades. The mystery genre took hold of her as a fifth grader when she discovered Nancy Drew and Phyllis A. Whitney mysteries. Years later, it still hasn’t let go.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s in education, Sherrill spent the next thirty-five years as a K-12 literacy teacher. When she retired from teaching in 2013, the Botanic Hill Detectives and their mysteries finally sprang to life.
Forever inspired by her beautiful students in the San Diego public schools, the author has peopled and themed the Botanic Hill Detectives mysteries with children of various abilities, cultures, and interests. She strongly believes that embracing diversity is the key to a better world.
Sherrill is a native San Diegan where she lives in a ninety-year-old house in a historic neighborhood with her bichon frisé-poodle mix, Jimmy Lambchop. In addition to her dog, the city of San Diego, reading and writing, the author loves her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. She must also include dark chocolate, popcorn, old movies, staircases, the color purple, and daisies. She is a member of SCBWI and the Authors’ Guild and promises many more adventures with the squad to come.
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Giveaway Time!
US Only: One signed paperback copy of Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets
- One bookmark
- One sticker
- One refrigerator magnet
- Winner’s choice of either the standing Egyptian goddess Bastet statue or, the reclining Egyptian god Anubis statue
International Only: One eBook copy of Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets
Click the link below to enter and best of luck!
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Sophril Reads 
I felt the same too. They were not 13 year Olds… At all.. I found that too incongruous to my reading sometimes. Then comparing it to Nancy Drew… Hmmm not sure
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I never read Nancy drew when I was little so I am not sure but I know there were times that those kids acted my daughters age or older.
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Wearing a sari… Apparently which got to me…. No 13 year old wears a sari 😂😂🤣🤣
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Oh lol. So just because I don’t know at what age do they typically wear them?
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Mary, sari is a 5.5 meter long fabric and 3 meter in width. It has to be draped at the waist and pleated in a certain way, then taken over one shoulder, generally the left, where it falls like a long fabric up to mid knee. The other shoulder is free. Every woman of any size looks elegant in a sari. You can wear it at an age when you have reached the required height limits because otherwise quite a bit has to be tucked in. Which makes the waist thick.
There are ready to wear saris which just needs to be worn as a dress… But I prefer the original way of draping. Apparently there are more 50 ways to drape it.
I drape it simply but I like the way it falls to wrap my body. It can be a sexy way to dressing along with it being dignified and elegant. In all our marriages, it is a the way of dressing.
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Thank you so much for this. I feel I should have looked it up when I read it instead of just thinking of it like a dress. Again thank you for sharing this with me.
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My pleasure… The author wrote on my blog that she had a child coming to school in a sari which her grandmother made, so in my country I haven’t seen that. In distant villages quite in interior, my parents say the kids used to wear but it would be of a smaller size specially woven or cut.
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I used to wear mom’s sari when I was a kid 10 to 13…i looked preggers hehehe as tucking the pleats in made me look so 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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