I had the good fortune to interview James Ponti, author of the CITY SPIES series, this week. James’s fourth book in the series, CITY SPIES:  CITY OF THE DEAD comes out February 7.

I’m ashamed to admit that I am a little late to the CITY SPIES game, but I can’t wait to jump in and read them all.

Please tell us a little bit about your latest book, CITY SPIES: CITY OF THE DEAD.

It starts with a heist, which is so much fun to write. The City Spies have to break into the British Museum and steal something for the government. (Which means I had to figure out how to break into the British Museum.) In the process, they get swept up in a massive cyber-assault on venerated London institutions like Parliament and the Underground. To thwart the attack, they have to journey to Egypt and look for answers in the tombs among the Valley of the Kings. I wanted a story with elements that were up-to-the-minute modern alongside those that were ancient and mysterious. And mummies. I wanted mummies.

And, not for nothing, the fact that it involves breaking into a museum late at night can be traced directly back to the one book that found its way into my heart when I was a young reader. A certain book that shares its name with this website!

This series is incredibly popular. Colby Sharp of Nerdy Book Club said, “Books like this are why kids love to read,” which is high praise. What inspired you to write these stories and/or these characters?

First of all, I nearly fainted when I heard Colby say that on his video. My goal was to write a series that young me would’ve wanted to read. I was an extremely reluctant reader, so I keep that in mind when I work on the books. I tried to include the elements that grab me most as a reader – mystery, humor, adventure, and family. The actual idea was spurred by a trip my wife and I took to visit our son when he was studying in England for a year abroad. We went to London and Paris and had an amazing time. That trip and those elements came together to make City Spies.