The series contained roughly 20 books published between 1991 and 2007, and established a cast of many recurring characters, including Jim's "good friend" Jocelyn Osgood, who received a few books of her own; Gerald Perry Esquire, Jim's financier and founding member of the Old Relics Society, and the villainous Captain Neptune Flannelbottom Bone.
The books, in order:
- Cairo Jim on the Trail to ChaCha Muchos
- Cairo Jim and Doris in Search of Martenarten
- Jocelyn Osgood- After the Puce Empress
- Cairo Jim and the Sunken Sarcophagus of Sekheret
- Jocelyn Osgood and the Xylophones above Zarundi
- Cairo Jim and the Alabastron of the Forgotten Gods
- Cairo Jim and the Quest for the Quetzal Queen
- Jocelyn Osgood in Ascent into Asgard
- Cairo Jim and the Secret Sepulchre of the Sphinx
- Cairo Jim Amidst the Petticoats of Artemis
- Cairo Jim and the Lagoon of Tidal Magnificence
- Cairo Jim and the Tyrannical Bauble of Tiberius
- Cairo Jim and the Chaos from Crete
- Cairo Jim and the Rorting of Ramses' Regalia
- Cairo Jim and Jocelyn Osgood in Bedlam from Bollywood
- Cairo Jim and the Sumptuous Stash of Silenus
- Cairo Jim and the Crossroads of Orpheus
- Cairo Jim and the Astragals of Angkor
Tropes in this series include:
- Alliterative Title: The titles of about half the books.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Indiana Jones-style.
- All Myths Are True: Let's see, we've got Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Indian, and that's just for starters.
- Always Identical Twins: Kevin and Abdullah.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Joan in Ascent into Asgard.
- Bone and Jim In the ending to the final book. Maybe.
- Brotherhood of Funny Hats: The Old Relics Society isn't exactly this, as it's not a secret, but it serves more or less the same purpose.
- Cool Shades: Jim's signature sun-spectacles.
- Creepy Crows: Bone has the raven Desdemona as Doris' Evil Counterpart. She's filthy and flea ridden, and can't count.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Bone's middle name is Flannelbottom. The trope is somewhat averted in that no one ever comments on this.
- Fat Bastard: Again, Bone. He doesn't seem to eat a lot, he's just… large.
- Fate Worse than Death: The ending to Bedlam from Bollywood.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Kelvin and Abdullah.
- Intellectual Animal: Brenda knows large portions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- Metaphorgotten: Every other sentence Mrs Amun-Ra says.
- Motive Decay: Bone's plans vary from world domination to get rich quick schemes to petty revenge against Jim.
- Nearly Normal Animal: Brenda.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Brenda tends to fall into this. Somewhat justified as she's a camel and wouldn't be able to say what powers she has. And any power that's used once will almost definitely come up again.
- Noodle Incident: Anything mentioned in one of Gerald Perry Esquire's Rambling Old Man Monologues.
- Omniglot: Doris discovers a skill for ancient languages. Somewhat justified when you consider that she's a Talking Animal who learnt English quite quickly.
- Overly Long Gag: X looked at Y. Y looked at Z. Z looked at X. X looked at Z. Continue until you've exhausted every possible combination of characters.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Some of the disguises Bone uses, especially when you take into account his size and
taste in fashion. - Polly Wants a Microphone: Doris is a talking macaw.
- Also, Desdemona, Bone's raven.
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: Members of the Old Relics Society tend to do this.
- Rival Turned Evil: Before Bone turned evil, he used to be in Jim's archeology class.
- Running Gags: With Kevin and Abdullah, there's the typical identical twin gag of characters confusing the two.
- Also, them responding to sayings with 'Don't bring my <relative> <name that was just mentioned> into this!'
- Jim's poetry being terrible.
- Self-Deprecation: Some of the reviews the books cite are (apparently) written by Captain Bone, and say things like 'This is a terrible book. Don't read it.'
- Sickly Neurotic Geek: Pyrella Finch may not be a geek, but she's allergic to practically everything. Including the sun.
- Signature Headgear: Jim's signature pith helmet.
- Spell My Name With An S: Kevin or Kelvin?
- Supreme Chef: Mrs Amun-Ra's scones are to die for.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Doris likes snails. Brenda eats worms. Desdemona likes seaweed.
- Two Guys and a Girl: A large part of Bone's motivation, especially in the second book, is his interest in Jocelyn.
