Book Title: The Egghead Detective Agency
Author: Pika Nani
Illustrator: Jemma Jose
Publisher: Puffin
Type: Paperback
Pages: 224 pages
Recommended Age: 7-11 years
The review is being posted on behalf of my 9 year old son, Divit.
The Egghead Detective Agency is about two girls Tamara (Tam) and Antara (Ant) who love to solve mysteries. In their mission to solve mysteries, they are joined by a ghost detective named Egghead from London who used to solve mysteries there almost 100 years ago.
He miraculously appears one day in their house when their Dad brings home a new chair from his aunt in London. Now this chair was not an ordinary one. This belonged to a very famous detective – Egghead and this was his famous thinking chair.
Egghead is such a funny name for a detective but that is just the right name for him. He is completely transparent but looks rather funny with his bald head shaped like an egg, little black wobbly moustache, white shirt, 3-piece suit and a black bow tie. With him around to help, Tam and Ant get all excited to solve the various mysteries in and around Emerald Gardens.
The book has a total of five cases and each one of them are so exciting that I could not stop till I cracked them with Tam and Ant. The book comes with some solve it yourself (SIY) clues which are super fun to solve. My favorite among the five is the “Pink Pool Case” where they try to solve the mystery of the swimming pool of their apartment suddenly turning pink! A bit about it –
It was a normal summer morning and Tam and Ant were going to swim in the pool of their complex Emerald Gardens. But instead of a nice, blue pool they were greeted by a pink pool and a lot of surprised faces! Now this was a matter of concern. And when a few days later the complex next to Emerald Gardens, Shanti Heights’ pool also turned pink, it was no laughing matter. That very evening, they got their first clue. Egghead was casually flipping through a newspaper when an ad for an Olympic-size pool and swimming classes with a 20% discount caught his eye. This made them suspicious as the sports centre giving a discount on the same day as Shanti Height’s pool turned pink was fishy and meant that someone from the sports centre could be involved. They wondered if this was a ploy to bring business to the sports centre.
How they solve the case with their ant sized idea is simply mind blowing. I love the way they look for clues, put the difference pieces together and draw conclusions from them. It is like solving a jigsaw puzzle and when it all comes together it is so satisfying to know the case is solved.
I like funny books but mystery is another genre that I absolutely enjoy and this book with the amazing illustrations, simple language and nail-biting cases made me feel like a detective myself. What I also love is the fact that Tam and Ant are so brave in pursuing the cases and trying to solve them. Of course having an invisible ghost detective turns out super helpful for them.
If you enjoyed this review and wish to solve some mysteries with Tam and Ant and want to buy the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
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