Product Description

Once again, Tim Diamond and his younger brother Nick are flat broke. So when they're hired to investigate an anonymous death threat made to world-famous pop singer and movie actress Minerva, they jump at the chance. However, the Greek celebrity seems to have plenty of enemies - so the question is, which one actually wants her dead? Meanwhile, Tim needs to resist Minerva's amorous advances and focus in the matter in hand...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4340 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

About the Author
Anthony Horowitz is the creator of the phenomenal Alex Rider books and the bestselling Power of Five series. He won the 2006 British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year for Ark Angel (9780744583243) and the 2003 Red House Children's Book of the Year Award for Skeleton Key (9781844280940). Anthony, who wrote the script for the Alex Rider movie Stormbreaker, also writes extensively for TV, with credits including Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War. He lives in Clerkenwell, London.

Customer Reviews

Sparkling
Another great Diamond Brothers caper from the peerless Anthony Horowitz who seems to churn great reads out in his sleep. Witty, sharp and effortlessly fun, Nick Diamond rescues his brother from another spot of trouble, and like Hong-Kong Phooey's cat he lets the other one take the credit. Great stuff.

Good, but...
This is the most recent in the Diamond Brothers series, and it is a very good book and well worth buying for a male as the slim volume should encourage them that they can read it quickly and then get back to something more "interesting".
As the title suggests, it's Christmas, the "Diamond" detective brothers are flat-broke as usual, and the story title is of course a play on "THe Grinch that Stole Christmas" like the French Confection (Connection), Public Enemy No.2, etc.
The reason this has only 3 stars is that while it's better than most comparable efforts, it is the weakest story structurally of the Diamond Brothers series itself. It lacks the word-play/puns present in the other shorter Diamond Brothers books (e.g., The Blurred Man) and the plot is much weaker - there is a lot of padding. I could be wrong, but I got the impression of something cobbled together as a deus ex machina to get the pair to Australia for "Radius of the Lost Shark" or to pacify readers whilst Horowitz' real focus was on his Alex Rider series.
Certainly this book is a keeper but I recommend picking another title in the series if you want your son/brother/significant male to start reading and enjoying books.