Avoiding Anubis! RA The Mighty! The Great Tomb Robbery by A. B. Greenfield

RA the Mighty is the pampered, perfumed, preferred pet of the Pharoah, fed on choice morsels of spiced ibex and carried on his master's golden litter.

But for this sortie, there's a case to solve, and this litter ride is no trip to the spa for the Pharoah's cat.

"My lords!" The guard stumbled toward the Scribe and the Vizier. "I tell you, the god Anubis attacked our men and then entered a tomb!"

"Tomb Robbers!" I jumped off my pedestal, tail bristling. "Let me at them! If there's anything lower than a tomb robber, I don't know what it is. Tomb robbers mess up your afterlife. It's beyond despicable." Tail still on high alert, I pointed myself toward the gate.

"I'll track them down! They'll learn not to cross Ra the Mighty--"

But this case is no walk in the desert. RA, the Pharoah's pampered pet,  Kepri, his scarab dung beetle partner, and his sidekick, the kitten Miu, all hitch a ride to the Valley of the Kings for a bit of detection in the desert, and find themselves barely escaping packs of real jackals howling, "Anooooooobis" and "Stay away from the toooooombs!"  on the hunt for a team of larcenous sarcophagus pilferers led by a masked faux Anubis who plan to steal the dead pharoah's jewels and deface the mummy of RA's ancestor, his cat Pamui.

And when RA discovers that an imposter black cat, wearing RA's stolen gold collar, has traveled back to Thebes posing as RA the Pharoah's cat, he and his two assistants Kepri and Miu know they are on their own against the ruthless tomb robbers and the treacherous Vizier and Scribe.

"Looks like you're stuck here in Set Ma'at," said the shifty-eyed cat Sabu.

I fainted dead away.

But the crooked officials and the wicked jackals are no match for the three Great Detectives of the Desert, in A. B. Greenfield's second book in series, Ra the Mighty: The Great Tomb Robbery (Holiday House, 2019). In this tongue-in-cheek mystery with the luxury-loving RA, his sage scarab beetle, and his courageous kitty buddy, Greenfield pokes fun at the detective-and-sidekick trope while using a bit of background Egyptian lore, reinforced by his appended Author's Note and Ra's Glossary of Names. Kirkus calls this latest "fast-paced, seamlessly weaving in much information about ancient Egypt, adding "the interactions among the distinctive and delightful characters are hilarious."

The first book in this colorful mystery series for middle readers is Ra the Mighty: Cat Detective.