Cheat reads don't get much more cheaty than this. An 80 page children's detective story - I think it may be a novelette rathaer than a novella.
I found this in a charity shop yesterday for 99p and it was worth every penny.
The Diamond brothers are private detectives. Well Tim Diamond is officially a detective, and Nick - his sassy 14 year old brother - is his assistant. Of course, this being a kid's book, tim is as dense as a very dense thing and Nick is the one with the brains.
In this one they've been asked to investigate the mysterious death of Lenny Smile, head of a children's charity called Dream Time. He's just been run over by a speeding steamroller and the rich American author who had donated millions to him wants to know where all the money has gone.
It's all very silly. Tim misunderstands absolutely everything that's said. Nick is always there with a witty comment. No one knows anything about the sadly departed Lenny Smile and the Russian State circus doesn't seem like the most inviting place.
I had to check when this was written (2003) because of some of the references and the fact that some of the jokes might not get past an editor these days - especially in a children's book.
Not really much to say about other than I can understand why he's one of the more popular children's authors. This was good fun to read with some very funny comic set pieces. I can't really complain that the humour is a bit juvenile considering the target audience, but there are some truly shocking dad jokes in there. I've saved them and will be using them as and when the circumstance arises.
Good fun for the little ones.
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