The Greek Who Stole Christmas (Diamond Brother Mysteries) [Paperback]

Anthony Horowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2008 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Diamond Brother Mysteries

Tim Diamond is the worst detective in the world—he couldn’t find his nose with both hands and a road map. Luckily, his younger brother, thirteen-yearold Nick, is the real brains behind the operation! It’s Christmastime, and once again, Tim and Nick are flat broke. Luckily for them, a famous Greek pop singer and movie star, Minerva, has been getting death threats—and they’re the detectives hired to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for Nick, Tim’s busy fending off Minerva’s amorous advances, and the international star has made plenty of enemies on her way to the top, all of whom seem to want her dead. Can Nick track down the would-be assassin on his own?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–Tim Diamond, a clueless London private detective, and his intelligent 14-year-old brother, Nick, are down on their luck again. Surprisingly, they receive a job just before Christmas to protect a gorgeous Greek celebrity singer named Minerva from recent death threats. Turns out, she is a coldhearted beauty who only cares about two things–money and Minerva. When shots are fired and a body is found strangled, all kinds of trouble ensues between Minerva, her aging husband, her manager, the Diamond Brothers, and the police. There are a few suggestive references to Minerva's appearance and her silver-plated breasts but nothing more racy or graphic. The witty banter between the characters keeps this short novel moving at breakneck speed. Tim's literal misinterpretations of everything are absurdly funny, and Nick's skill at solving the crime before anyone else, including the police, is entertaining. Horowitz is a master of tongue-in-cheek wit and groan-worthy puns that both sophisticated young mystery readers and older fans will enjoy.–Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library
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From Booklist

Canny young private detective Nick Diamond and his hilariously clueless older brother, Tim, stumble their way through another slapstick caper—this time protecting a gorgeous but self-absorbed international pop star from an anonymous killer. In London to make appearances at various Christmastime events and to promote her new single, the dazzling Minerva (blond hair, green eyes, “lips that looked like they could suck in a horse”) has received a pair of cryptic death threats. The Diamond brothers spring into action, which generally means winding up flat on their faces or in the clutches of brutish police officers Snape and Boyle. There is a murder, but it’s offstage, and ultimately, they pull off a climactic rescue amid the holiday chaos at Harrods and nab a bad Santa. The riffs on renowned crime novels and films lie thinner on the ground here than in previous episodes, but this, too, will be perfect for Chet Gecko graduates. Grades 4-7. --John Peters

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 105 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (September 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014240375X
• ISBN-13: 978-0142403754
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear -- "My father was a very secretive man," he says-- so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands&. I was an astoundingly large, round child&." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.


Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And&oh yes&there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful Christmas present for the Diamond Brothers, December 3, 2009

By 

Lorraine GG (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Greek Who Stole Christmas (Diamond Brother Mysteries) (Paperback)

I agree with the other readers who say that this is not the best of the Diamond Brothers stories. There isn't much of a plot in this one, nor is there very much action; the jokes and witty remarks are not quite as funny as they are in some of the other stories.

As the story starts, the brothers are broke and Christmas is not far away. Their affairs improve when Tim is retained to protect a glamorous international celebrity called Minerva, a pop princess and film star of Greek origin, who is receiving death threats on the occasion of her visit to London to switch on the Christmas lights and open the Santa Claus grotto in Harrods. Her husband insists on hiring a private detective, both for extra security and to find the originator of the threats, and her manager is ordered to find one and bring him in for approval. We need to wait until the end of the story to learn why the obviously idiotic and incompetent Tim was selected for the job. I hadn't realised that Tim was 28 years old by the way. After making a fool of himself yet again, he actually makes some sensible remarks about his unsuitability for the private detection business. As usual, it is Nick who notices anomalies, solves all of the mysteries and identifies the would-be killer and the reasons for the threats. The story that began on such a low note ends on a much higher one when the manager gives the brothers a £10,000 cheque in gratitude for all they have done to further the career of Minerva, his most famous and lucrative client.

Minerva does seem an unlikely name for someone of Greek origin: I realise that it is supposed to make us think of Madonna, but Minerva was the Roman name for the Greek goddess Athena. This is just a minor objection, and although it is not the best Diamond Brothers adventure the story does have some good features. The scene where the brothers rush to tidy up their messy office when there is an unexpected knock on their door is very amusing. I also particularly liked the references to Regent Street: it is so true that it is full of shops selling clothes that we couldn't possibly afford and wouldn't want to buy even if we could, and that the Christmas lights are no longer worth travelling to see. Obvious, but spot on. Anthony Horowitz often comes up with observations like this, which is why I continue to read these stories.