The first instalment of a brand new, commercial series by M. G Leonard which combines musical notes with time travel. This story introduces us to Sim and Jeopardy who uncover that their parents are time keys and have been keeping huge secrets from them. But as they discover whether they are time keys themselves, their adventure takes them to Ancient Egypt in a race against time to find the heart scarab and protect it from the ruthless council keys.

This is a great new twist on time travel which takes readers to a much-loved time period in history and links to the KS2 curriculum. As always, M. G Leonard writes smoothly and confidently, combining tension, pace and action with an exciting adventure. The plot is tight, the characters are likeable and I like the involvement of the adults in this story - flaws and all. There's a lovely relationship between Sim and his mum and Jeopardy adds a new and extra dynamic.

Perfect for competent readers, history-lovers and adventure fans,

Hunt for the Golden Scarab is the first book in an exciting, new time-travelling adventure series, Time Keys that swept me into a rollercoaster of an adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout – absolutely riveting!

Twelve-year-old Sim Lockier lives with his mum, Callidora, in a small attic flat attached to the Sir John Soane’s Museum where his mum is a caretaker. Whilst helping his mum clean the Museum after it has closed for the day, they are disturbed by a man and a boy who should not be there. Running from them, Sim’s mum takes him through a locked door to ask for help from the old man they meet there, telling him that hunters have found her.

The next day, his mum tells him that it is no longer safe for them in London so they have to leave and find his uncle, Emmett, an uncle that Sim has never heard of. After a dangerous journey, where they are chased by a hunter, they arrive at Emmett’s home to discover a red-haired girl, his daughter, Jeopardy.

It is not long before Sim discovers the secret that his mum has been keeping from him: she can open time doors and travel back into the past. She is being hunted by the Council of Keys, an organisation who aim to control time travel, and is convinced they will take Sim if they catch up with them. The Council is searching for an ancient artefact, the golden heart scarab of Neferiti, said to grant eternal youth. Callidora aims to thwart the Council and find the golden scarab before they can use it for any nefarious purposes.

And so begins a heart-racing, action-packed adventure as Sim, Callidora and Jeopardy find themselves heading to Egypt to hunt for the golden scarab. But they are being hunted by someone who will stop at nothing to procure the artefact for the Council. Can Sim and his friends save both themselves and the golden scarab before time runs out? Can they find a door into the past and a way to protect a precious artefact?

I absolutely loved this adventure which has plenty of danger, unexpected twists and turns and a feeling of not being sure who to trust which made it a real page turner. I adore books involving time travel and I loved the idea of a link between music and doors in time that allow those who are keys to travel through time. I also really enjoyed the Egyptian setting which is richly described and gives a wonderful insight into this fascinating time period, especially the death rituals of Pharaohs.

Sim and Jeopardy form a wonderful bond of friendship and make a fantastic team when discovering the clues that may help them foil the sinister Council stealing the golden scarab. They show great determination, astuteness and courage as they face dangers and uncover secrets of the past and present – and learn more about themselves. I’m really looking forward to joining them on their next adventure. I also really liked that this adventure has such a strong, female adult role model in Sim’s mum, Callidora, who clearly adores her son and wants to protect him, even when this means keeping secrets from him, whilst at the same time giving him the skills to defend himself should the occasion arise.

The full-and-partial-page illustrations are stunning and complement this time-travelling mystery adventure perfectly.
An action-packed, exhilarating time-travelling adventure, perfect for young adventurers of 9+.

A great start to a new series! All of M.G. Leonard’s books are worth exploring but this is the first is a new series so can be read alone. Young Sim discovers his mother has been living a secret life, on the run from “the council” when they catch up with the pair at the local museum. His mother opens a time door to help escape their clutches and a whole new world is revealed, including new family and adventures. An informative book about ancient Egypt, this adventure story would work well alongside a history topic in KS2

“Books are unsurpassable tools when it comes to understanding life’s mysteries.” - from ‘Hunt for the Golden Scarab’ by M. G. Leonard (Macmillan, 2025)

Take it from me, Ancient Egypt is going to be BIG in Children’s fiction in 2025, and here’s the first offering - ‘Hunt for the Golden Scarab’ book one in an exciting middle-grade time travel adventure series from award-winning author, M.G. Leonard (Adventures on Trains, Beetle Boy, Twitch) with illustrations throughout from Manuel Šumberac, published by Macmillan. For ages 9+ (or confident readers 8+) this initial ‘Time Keys’ mystery brings together the author’s passions for music, history and adventure, for without music, or should I say, the children in this story and their playing a musical instrument, the world as we know it today is at great risk from time travelling magical artefact hunters who could alter our reality forever!

Sim and his mum live in a museum filled with ancient wonders and history. By day, Sim goes to school with his best mate Nelson, while his mum works as the museum’s caretaker. By night, they train together in martial arts, with Sim squeezing in time to play his beloved piano. A break in at the museum one evening leaves this small family running for their lives, but Sim has absolutely no idea what’s going on and why his mum has suddenly transformed into a ninja warrior super-spy in the blink of an eye. What on earth?!

Hiding out with Sim’s newly acquainted with cousin Jeopardy in her rather shifty dad, Emmett in their secret rooms hidden below famous luxury department store, Liberty’s in London, Sim starts to find some family resemblance in that they each have a gift for playing musical instruments, and that it’s not just important to play in the right ‘key’, but having the born-with gift of perfect pitch and intonation means that he and his family members have an unusual magical power… they can open time portals, they’re ’Keys’. As children they are vital to adult Keys who as they grow older loose their natural ability to detect frequency and high pitch.

Sim and Jeopardy are drawn into a risky globe-trotting mission to stop the ancient Egyptian golden heart scarab from Nefertiti’s tomb from falling into the wrong hands, because a mythical and magical artefact like this one in particular is believed to give the owner eternal youth! They must protect it at all costs! Travelling incognito they head for Egypt and thanks to the author’s extensive (and probably very fulfilling) research, the Egyptian setting comes alive with vivid descriptions of the landscape, architecture, and culture, all carefully woven into the action-packed narrative.… there’s even a ‘hassle free’ bookshop!

The small team of musical time travellers must follow clues, problem-solve, face dangers and duplicity in a race-against-time, all the while conscious that if they mess with history there could be catastrophic consequences! When they travel back to ancient Egypt, Nefertiti has recently passed into her afterlife, the mummification process still so recent (and smelly), a young Tutankhamen is coming into his power and life is so starkly different for our modern day time travelling children, they have to think on their feet, watch what they say, try to blend in, and most importantly, avoid the hunters, find the scarab and return to their own time before they get stuck and found out!

‘Hunt for the Golden Scarab’ is a thrilling middle-grade for fans of history, adventure and magic. The story explores the power of music not just as a skill but as a source of magic and connection. Fantastic read for a insightful supportive text in schools or for home educators. Looking forward to book 2!

🎹I’ll be honest with you all before we start, I absolutely LOVE M.G Leonard’s work so I was really excited to get my hands on an advanced copy. And I wasn’t disappointed - it is amazing!

🎺Leonard writes books that are easy to read but hard to put down - always a winning combination! Her characters are likeable and her storylines have you hooked from the very beginning.

🪈This is a fantastic start to a new series of books - it’s an exciting, action-packed adventure story, teeming with mystery and historical information (I learnt so much!).

🗝️A perfect addition to any KS2 Egyptian topic and a book I’ll be adding to the shelves at work ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sim loves playing the piano, his mum is a cleaner for the museum below their flat. She also teaches marshal arts and trains Sim in their spare time. They have moved around a lot but Sim is finally able to attend school and has made a best friend, Nelson. He has never questioned their life until one night when they have to flee from threatening strangers. As Sim slowly starts to piece the mystery of his life together, he is caught up in a chilling, epic journey to foil the villains. Exciting and fun story. Can't wait for the next book!

A great introduction to a brand new series from a much-loved children's author. It is no secret that I adore M. G. Leonard's Twitch series, which follow some crime-fighting kids who also happen to be birdwatchers, and I'm excited to one day find the time to start both the Adventures on Trains and Beetle Boy series, of which I have the first books of each somewhere in my stacks of books.... as a self-confessed bird nerd, I didn't love this one *quite* as much as Twitch, but it is nonetheless excellent, and a tantalising intro to a new series. A great set of characters, a unique time travel element, and plenty of Ancient Egyptian history. Kids will lap this one up and I can't wait to get sharing one of my favourite authors for this age group with a wider audience.

Sim and his mum continually move around though Sim has no idea why. One evening, when menacing strangers arrive, Sim discovers his mum can find and travel through doors to the past. Another secret is revealed when Sim meets an uncle and cousin whose existence he has been unaware of. Together they travel to Egypt in search of Nefertiti's golden heart scarab. So begins a race against time and some very unsavoury people to try and find the whereabouts of Nefertiti's lost tomb.

This is a brilliantly written time travelling mystery adventure, ideal for middle years readers. Whilst fast moving, full of thrilling and action packed escapades, the plot moves along at a perfect pace. Not so fast that young readers would get lost, but fast enough to ensure they remain engaged. At school we encourage our students when writing, to 'hook in' their reader within the first couple of paragraphs, this book is the perfect example of how to do this. I was fascinated by the historical facts and wonderful detail about the mummification process. I loved the black and white illustrations, which added another dimension to the book.

Hunt for the Golden Scarab would make the perfect text for English/Guided Reading lessons during an Ancient Egyptian project in KS2.

With many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

An action-packed middle grades adventure involving time travel, secret societies and ancient Egypt. The first half of the story zips along with loads of inventive world-building. A young boy discovers that his mom just might be a kind of renegade spy who can travel through time. They are almost immediately on the run and he's learning more as he goes. The second half slows down a touch as parts of the story come to a head. The book is definitely setting up for a series so prepare to have some threads left untied. Good fun, a little murky in the middle but all around creative and deeply engaging.

This new series by the ever-popular M.G. Leonard is sure to delight both young readers and their teachers looking for compelling books with a strong curriculum hook. It's fast-paced, gently informative and lots of fun. I look forward to reading the others in the series as it has a brilliant set-up and it's going to be an exciting ride!

HUNT FOR THE GOLDEN SCARAB is an action packed time travelling adventure.

So much happens in this book as Sim and his family race against a shadowy organisation (who have questionable motives) to find a potentially magical amulet. The book is a caper across time and place, starting in London in the modern day and ending up in Ancient Egypt.

I really liked the link between music and time travel. It brought two very different subjects together and gave the book a good reason why kids were so integral to the secret society of time travellers. Plus, as someone who likes classical music, it's nice to see it celebrated!

This is a book full of Ancient Egyptian facts. The focus is death rituals and the Eighteenth Dynasty (one of the more famous ones) and has a nicely long notes section at the end that helps explain the characters met and events described. It feels like there has been a bit of a resurgence in interest in Egypt in media at the moment and this is a nice addition to books for children that explore the period and the questions around taking objects out of their native countries.

Manuel Sumberac's illustrations scatter through the book from small object pictures to scenes. The style was quite different to other MG illustrations I've seen of late - more board brush strokes than highly detailed - which I liked as it felt like "field sketches" as I'd someone was along on the adventure with them and making quick pictures as they went.

In all, it's a promising start to the series and I look forward to the next book.

An adventure story to delight readers who enjoy a magical world existing in a hidden layer of our world.

Sim has had to move about a lot, but is enjoying this longer 2 year stint in London, he even now has a friend Nelson. However hes about to be exposed to the real reason for all that moving houses as his and his mum's life are at risk. Suddenly Sim finds out he has a an uncle and a cousin; Jeopardy, which adds to the texture of his small world as they try to hide from 'The Council'.

The cover and title tell us we are going to be embroiled in the mysteries of ancient Egypt and the story completely lives up to it. I know so many children that are drawn to stories of mummies and pyramids and think this story will deliver on the facts of the past while layering it with an adventure that keeps you on your toes.

As well as all of that theres a lot of contemporary themes, such as, what a family is. This allows children see themselves and their friends in the story and provides a safe place to explore these ideas in the safety of the pages. All of this applies to adult readers too, I am fast becoming a fan of M.G. Leonard's writing. And I am super excited to see what Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson get up to in the future.

The Hunt for the Golden Scarab is a great adventure for slightly older readers. It has a slightly magical element to it where 'keys' can travel through time doors to periods of the past. Sim lives with his Mum, one of the keys, but he discovers that she is being hunted by the Council of Keys and so have to go on the run, ending up in Egypt. Featuring some brilliantly poor parenting, Sim and his cousin Jeopardy, end up travelling through time trying to protect an ancient artefact from getting into the wrong hands. There's some great historical detail included amongst a really well-plotted adventure - it took me a little while to get my head fully understanding the world and what was going on but once I did it was really worth it. An excellent new series from a favourite author of mine!

Time Travel, peril, secret lairs, mysterious parents, hired goons giving chase. This has it all! M G Leonard has thrown it all in and this is both a fun and wildly inventive adventure story with plucky kids being brave and forming connections, but also looks at absent or distracted parents and the effect they can have as well as laying down a LOT of groundwork for the world and future volumes.

There is, unavoidably a drip feed of information, and a bit of 'I will tell you all about this shift in your worldview, but later' to avoid exposition dumps, but Leonard handles this well, and as usual her capturing of the voice of the child is brilliantly done.

Great start to a new time-travel series for kids.

I've loved all the Leonard books I've read so far. She is so easy to just fall into, with characters you instantly like and stories that immediately have you engaged.

Here we are tasked with following young Sim, who lives with his mother in the Sir John Soane's Museum in London, where his mother cleans and teaches him martial arts. They've moved around a lot, and Sim has only just been allowed to attend school for the first time, making his first friend.

But things are about to change yet again when strange and dangerous-seeming people show up in the Museum one night, and Sim finds himself travelling through walls and doors and into the presence of... Sir John Soanes?

With a lot of exposition needed, Leonard manages to make this pretty smooth and unclunky, as we learn Sim's mum's secret, and about her abilities. And that they are both in danger because of them. Sim meets new family members he wasn't aware existed... and there just might be some time travel involved.... Egypt anyone?

This sets up a whole series beautifully, and I really enjoyed the backstory of how and why Sim and his family need to both travel to Egypt and then travel back in time. There are villains in the background ready to cause trouble in the future, we've got a great set-up with how time travel is managed, and how problems are overcome (e.g. the difference in language), and we have some resourceful heroes and the whole of history to explore.

With danger present, it's good to see Sim's mum and uncle taking important roles and not just leaving the plot and emotional weight to the younger generation. There's a good arc that will continue for the family and lots of history there to explore later.

Great period to start the series in, and I learned a few things myself. Wonderful for curious children and a very exciting adventure that they'll want to continue with the characters.

For ages 8 and above.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Great start to a new series. Thrilling and fast paced, with lots of fun facts about Ancient Egyptians. Perfect for the age group.

This is a highly entertaining story for young readers about Sim and his mother Callidora, who live a somewhat odd life, (currently based in a small London flat, despite a series of earlier moves for which Sim does not know the real reason).

When a mysterious incident in the museum where his mother works leads to an incredible time travel adventure where Sim find himself in real danger but vibrantly alive amidst the surroundings of ancient Egypt, he begins to understand the secret his mother has been keeping.. Great fun and it gets 3.5 stars.

A brilliantly exciting book that is guaranteed to keep readers gripped. I can’t wait for the 2nd book in the series!

Absolute MGLeonard genius. She never fails to blow my socks off, cracking story, totally engrossing and extremely well written as always. Can’t wait for more.

A captivating time travel adventure - music, magic, martial arts and Ancient Egypt. Loved this cleverly crafted story and loved the history at the back (and woven throughout). The cover is wow too! Can't wait for the next instalment.