Customer Reviews

Young Hippo: Chocolate Money Mystery Pb

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Max and Maddy have learned detective skills from their parents and by playing the game Clue. They use these problem-solving skills to help a Swiss banker find robbers who have been using dogs to do their deeds. The writing is as witty and sharp as McCall Smith's books written for adults.

Max and Maddy, whose parents were once detectives, travel to Switzerland, where they solve the mystery of how and why St. Bernard dogs are robbing banks. The dogs are being kidnapped -- make that dognapped -- by the villain Claude Sardine, and then trained to rob banks. Max and Maddy hatch a clever plan in which they find the hideout of Sardine, rescue the St. Bernards, and bring back the stolen money.

While this book has a good plot, Max and Maddy don't seem to have any unique character traits. In addition, the writing consists of a lot of description and little dialogue. There's no real sense of danger and the pace of the book is a bit slow. The setting is great, though, and the dogs are wonderful.