Cincinnati Lee's family has been haunted by a curse and she's determined to break it. Her many-times-great grandfather was an early archaeologist tasked with rescuing priceless artifacts from around the world to preserve in well-respected museums. Of course, looking at that history through a contemporary lens, Cincinnati sees the damage her ancestor's work did to the cultures he stole from, and now, she wants to repatriate those items and restore her family's fortunes (even if a little theft is involved). Little does she know that her antics will entangle her in a much larger scheme involving mysterious collectors, antiquity thieves, museum employees, and crafting magnates (Heilig mentions the Hobby Lobby smuggling scandal in her author's note). Full of Indiana Jones-type adventure for a middle grade audience with tough questions about the ethics of museum collections, this is a novel that will appeal to kids and the adults in their lives.

The narrator does an excellent job switching between a wide range of characters of all ages and her pacing perfectly captures the intensifying suspense. Highly recommended!

Good detective book for middle graders. If you have a young sleuth on your hands check out this book!

Thank you HarperAudio Children’s, Greenwillow Books, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this book. I really enjoyed this start to what hopefully would be a great new middle grade series. Full of action, adventure, very relatable characters, refrito the classic works of literature, art, and music, and a curse I would have liked more information on that needs breaking— overall combined into a very fun read. Can’t wait for the next volume!

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

As a child who grew up on Goonies< and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I KNEW I had to meet Cincinnati Lee and see what kind of trouble she'd get herself in to. Sure, the plot isn't at all realistic - but then again Cincinnati's great great (great?) grandfather was who knows how old after finding the elixir of life so this isn't meant to be an entirely realistic book. I loved how Heilig started the novel off with what sounded like an archeological heist in some remote primitive village that turns into Cincinnati in a museum self narrating her actions.

Heilig provides a great entry point for Middle Grade readers to reflect on the history (and acquisition) behind museum artifacts (especially in American/white European institutions). On top trying to break the family curse by returning artifacts back to the countries they came from, Cincinnati also has to navigate what it means to be a good friend... and how to honestly apologize when a friend is hurt by your words/actions.

Overall this was a fun read with a solid adventure and a great mix of serious topics and humor.

Katharine Chin does a good job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, HarperAudio Children’s, and Greenwillow Books in exchange for an honest review.