Bookwitch

This was my first encounter with Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers. I’d noticed the wittily titled series before, but never got round to reading any of them. Decided that a Christmas story would fit the bill.

Anthony has been having fun with the hard boiled style and with the exceedingly bad puns. “‘An anonymous letter!’ Tim exclaimed. ‘Who from?’” Intelligence isn’t the strongest point of the elder Diamond.

There’s a brief story in there, and it should be perfect for the less confident reader, who still likes something exciting. And if I’d paid more attention to the cover, initially, I’d have found out more about the plot, too.

I suspect the target audience can’t ever fully appreciate either the titles with their puns, or the use Anthony makes of classic hard boiled PI fiction. Never mind. It may make the parents smile and convince them to get the books.