Missing Persons #4 The Unsuspecting Gourmet (Mass Market Paperback)

by M. E. Rabb (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The new Nancy Drew." Book Magazine, USA" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
When Sophie shares her late mother’s matzo ball soup recipe with the owner of the local diner, she realizes that she’s made a slip. But she has no idea just how much trouble it will cause. After adding a few Midwestern touches to the soup, Wilda enters it in a cooking contest and wins first prize! She’s going to be featured on a television cooking show and she wants Sophie to appear with her. Then, when the cast and crew of the show arrive in town, the chef disappears. Now Sophie and Sam have to find him, and find a way to prevent Sophie’s face from being broadcast on national television.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Speak (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142500445
• ISBN-13: 978-0142500446
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #923,439 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting, funny, trendy 'Nancy Drew'-type series that will please mystery readers of all ages, January 27, 2006

By	Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Sophie knows that she's made a big mistake, when she accidentally lets her mother's famous matzo ball soup recipe to Wilda Higgins, the owner of the Petal Diner. After all, she and her sister - Sam - are known to the town of Venice, Indiana as two Christian girls whose parents were killed in a car accident, not two Jewish girls who ran away from Queens, New York with their evil stepmother's money. However, Wilda quickly adds some Midwestern touches to make the recipe her own, then enters it into a contest. However, when Wilda wins, and is chosen to appear on Griffin Gateaux's cable television cooking show, she invites Sophie to join her on-screen. Now, Sam must figure out a way to prevent Sophie's face from being plastered all over the media, or their covers will definitely be blown. But that's the least of their worries, for Wilda and Griffin quickly disappear while touring local dairy farms, and now it's up to Sophie and Sam, along with their Private Investigator boss, the gruff Gus, to find Wilda and Griffin before they're both...expired.

With so few mystery series on the market for teens nowadays, it's wonderful to have the opportunity to pick up one of M.E. Rabb's books, and enter the small town of Venice, solving missing persons cases. Rabb has a talent of creating interesting, out-of-the-ordinary problems for the Shattenberg sisters, that keep readers guessing from first page to last. THE UNSUSPECTING GOURMET is no exception. Sophie and Sam are quirky, and fun to read about; and the adventures they encounter in the bizarro Venice, Indiana leave readers laughing, and dying for a slice of Wilda's famous pie. An interesting, funny, trendy NANCY DREW-type series that will please mystery readers of all ages. My only qualm is that it appears that this series has been discontinued.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

1.0 out of 5 stars Major Disappointment..., April 1, 2007

By	Audrey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Missing Persons: Case #4: The Unsuspecting Goumet (Paperback)

Following the main characters, Sophie and Sam, from the three previous books in the series, Missing Persons #4: The Unsuspecting Gourmet takes off where the last book left us. Having run away from their stepmother and taking their father's money in the first book, Sophie and Sam were forced to go under cover and eventually ended up in a small town where they hid their Jewish heritage and posed as someone else altogether so that they could evade their stepmother. The last three books each involved a mystery and The Unsuspecting Gourmet is no different. Sophie and Sam are again thrown right into the midst of another case to solve, only this time, they know the individual personally.

I want to state that I really enjoyed the first three books in the series. I liked that the characters never cussed or drank or did any of the things that can now be found in most all teen novels. It was all very clean and nice. For a very long time I was looking for books that I could read without encountering anything that made me feel uncomfortable and M. E. Rabb's series did just that; and it is extremely rare these days to find something that doesn't cross that fine line between what's necessary and what can be avoided without any damage done to the story whatsoever. These books proved that you don't need any of those things to tell a good story.

The Unsuspecting Gourmet is again not as bad as other teen books I have read. Before I get negative about this book I would like to state that I was looking forward to reading it. I waited for it to be available at the library, but neither my anticipation nor my liking of the three previous books could save my opinion.

Most of The Unsuspecting Gourmet is taken over by the romance between Sophie and Colin. In fact, the first fifty pages or so are mostly over her own inner turmoil regarding the state of their relationship. This fourth installment fell far below my expectations and kept falling...

First off, as is the case with some series, the characters lose their character. Colin is Sophie's friend in the other books, and in this one he's her boyfriend. And with this change comes a huge character alteration. All the things that once made this character appealing and funny are gone. He is as cardboard as they come, and I found his and Sophie's relationship to be a major hindrance to the series.

The mystery did not take place until about page one hundred something, much more than halfway through the book. On the back there is an excerpt that states what the plotline for the story is, and that doesn't happen until much later on; it's not even really one of the main points in the book. And then when the mystery was solved, (I saw the end coming a mile away; too predictable)it was so abrupt. It felt as if the author threw it in as if they had suddenly realized that a mystery was missing.

Along with Coliin's sudden lack of character development came the sapping of the other character's personalities as well. Sam was nearly nonexistent. Sophie had changed and was almost unidentifiable, and Colin had been reduced to the cheesy, cliched boyfriend. He only showed up when it was time to pull another one of his corny moves to assure Sophie of his affection. It seemed that every time she felt insecure or had doubts or wanted to call him but couldn't make up her mind whether he might want her to or not, he would suddenly be at her door. I don't like cheesy coincidences. It was like a really bad romance movie that I hate to watch.

----(Extremely minor Spoiler)----
In the beginning, there is a moment when Colin brings Sophie and Sam a Christmas tree. (One of his many irritating appearances in the book. He continues with this behavior, nonstop. Of course, nothing like a real boy's actions.) Sophie immediately thinks something like, "Oh, that's so sweet. It's like bringing flowers only bigger." Not a page later, another person enters their house and says the EXACT SAME THING! It's like the author didn't think the readers would understand the momentous gesture his actions implied and had to choke us with our own stupidity. Well, I certainly noticed now.
Another time when the author doesn't believe the reader is smart enough to understand happens later in the story when Wilda is talking about her recipe. I was reading and I realized that she basically said the same thing in two separate paragraphs on two separate pages. Very annoying. Again the author obviously didn't think I had read her words the first time so they had to be repeated.
----(End Spoiler)----

Overall: A major disappointment in what was a very good series, full of characters unrecognizable from their previous selves, little climax or mystery where the mystery was concerned, no worrying where the stepmother or their dilemma was concerned, and no caring on my part.