For the vast majority of English schools, September heralds the start of the academic year, and while many children (and their adults) will rejoice at the normality and routine that going back to school brings, there will also be those who don’t want to return, if for no other reason that school is boring.

One educational establishment that is certainly anything but boring, in large part because it is neither normal nor routine, is the Travelling School first introduced to us in Libby and the Parisian Puzzle, the term time home to the titular Libby and best friend Connie. In a series of gentle mysteries as perfect for those in lower KS2 as you are likely to get, we have accompanied them from France to the USA via Scotland and here, in their latest adventure, we follow them to Egypt in another glorious outing that sees the future of the school threatened by strange goings on.

After a summer break spent looking for her father with her mother, Libby flies to Egypt and is met by Hassan Faisel el-Kahir, who transports her and Connie to the hotel in which they are to stay, where they meet up with the rest of the school. Catching up with twins Sebastian and Noah, who have endured the horrors of extra tuition over the break after being distracted by the shenanigans they were involved with in Manhattan, Libby reflects on how she too is easily distracted by the thoughts of mysteries to solve before Connie accidentally knocks a book of hieroglyphics onto the floor from her bag, leading to a conversation about the curse said to haunt the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Visiting the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum, the boys are quickly bored and even Libby is a little disappointed not to be visiting the pyramids and tombs she was hoping to see. After waiting for Connie to look at some of the exhibits, the group visit the gift shop and Noah buys a replica canopic jar but just as they leave the shop, an alarm sounds which is quickly followed up by an announcement that the museum was testing its fire alarm – something that Libby finds odd as it hadn’t been announced beforehand.

When strange things start to happen to members of the school, the children start to wonder if they are somehow linked to the jar and Tutankhamun’s curse and Libby cannot help but find herself being drawn into yet another mystery. Is the ancient boy-king to blame and if not, can our heroine work out what is behind the odd events and put a stop to them before someone is hurt – or worse…

When we meet her again here, Libby is a changed character. After her time away from school for the summer holiday – time that she has not just spent with her mum but has spent looking for the father she thought was lost to her – she is far less excited about the start of the new term than when we met her after Christmas and Easter. In addition, the arrival of Anastasia in her last outing, has impacted on her close friendship with Connie and at times she struggles to hide her irritation at the new girl’s behaviour. As we accompany her on her adventure, it is clear that Libby’s thoughts are often elsewhere and when some of the events of the book threaten the safety of her fellow pupils, and hence the future of the school, she is not as upset at the thought of its no longer existing as she previously would have been.

Fans of the series, and I know there are many, will be familiar with Becka Moor’s gorgeous artwork which brings the stories so vividly to life for young readers and although not all of her illustrations were included in the advance ecopy of the book I read, those that were were fabulous, making me all the more excited to see the finished product when my pre-ordered hard copy arrives.

An absolutely delightful series, this is another beautifully written story, highly engaging and with the perfect mix of fun and peril for our heroine, who I absolutely adore, and one that would work well as a standalone – something that is quite unusual at this point in a sequence. Will we be seeing her again in a Book 5? I really hope so as I desperately need to know what happens next, but I think I read that this would be the last in the series – I am gutted if that is the case.

As always, my huge thanks go to publisher Firefly Press and to Net Galley for my advance, virtual read. Libby and the Egyptian Escapade publishes 16th January.