“Flem­ing has done it again and cre­at­ed anoth­er engag­ing non­fic­tion his­to­ry for mid­dle and high school stu­dents with this deep dive into the exca­va­tion of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Grave rob­bers had been loot­ing Egypt­ian tombs for thou­sands of years and British and French pol­i­tics dom­i­nat­ed Egypt at the turn of the cen­tu­ry with lit­tle over­sight of the ran­sack­ing. Despite this dis­ar­ray, Tutankhamun’s tomb remained hid­den and large­ly untouched until 1922, when it was unearthed by Howard Carter, an archae­ol­o­gist seen as a dis­rep­utable out­sider in Europe’s snob­bish Egyp­tol­ogy scene. He was work­ing for the hap­less Lord Carnar­von, a British noble who fan­cied exca­va­tion as a hob­by. Togeth­er they would toil away for years, exca­vat­ing the hun­dreds of trea­sures while bat­tling local and inter­na­tion­al pol­i­tics over own­er­ship rights. With swift­ly mov­ing text, Flem­ing cov­ers many aspects of the sto­ry, includ­ing the grue­some mum­mi­fi­ca­tion process, ancient Egypt­ian his­to­ry, as well as the dis­crim­i­na­to­ry poli­cies of colo­nial rule. In addi­tion to a spir­it­ed nar­ra­tive of the facts, Flem­ing adds to the mys­tery and intrigue by open­ing each chap­ter with dark, cryp­tic anec­dotes of some of the strange, unex­plained deaths that were often attrib­uted to the belief that the tomb was cursed. A final chap­ter dis­cuss­es the pos­si­bil­i­ties and prob­a­bil­i­ties of such a curse. VERDICT This engross­ing read is a sure bet that will please all his­to­ry lovers. Rec­om­mend­ed for all libraries serv­ing teens. (School Library Jour­nal, Karen Bilton)