Sweet Valley Kids Super Snooper #6: The Case of the Million-Dollar Diamonds
Sweet Valley Kids Super Snooper #6: The Case of the Million-Dollar Diamonds
Hey all~ Just found the community after reading my first Sweet Valley book in a long while (it was THE EVIL TWIN, what a trip), and then I decided to do a recap of one of my SVK books.
Chapter 1: A Christmas Wish
Okay, so we start out with Jessica and Elizabeth commenting on how COLD it is at the North Pole, but don't worry guys, it's just jokes. They're only getting their picture taken with a mall Santa and all the snow and ice is gloriously fake. You know what isn't fake, though? The ice cream their father can get for them and their many friends. For some reason, Lila, Ellen, Eva, Amy, Todd and Winston are in line with the twins and their Dad, sans their own parents. I guess once you've seen your kid get six pictures taken with Santa, you can foist them off on someone else while you stay at home and watch a decorator make your house look more festive for you. Lila informs them this will be her eighth picture with Santa and Todd calls shenanigans because she's seven like the rest of them, but Lila says that her mom came while she was pregnant. Do pregnant ladies often do this? Is she in the picture, or it cropped around her baby bump, these are things I want to know.
Cue the all the jazz about how Jess and Liz are the same but oh so different, and then Mr. Wakefield returns with their “ice cream,” which is actually Popsicles. Apparently, those things are the same to him. As Elizabeth hands out the Popsicles, she notices she's a lot like the children dressed as elves helping (probably against their will) at Santa's Workshop.
So, I don't know yet what goes down in this book because if I read it ever... Well, it would have been at least 12 years ago. At any rate, if somebody dies, the blame can be placed squarely on the shoulders of Winston and Lila. Winston says that golly, it sure would be neat if they had another mystery to solve, maybe even right there at the mall! Lila is having none of that, because malls are too ordinary for mysteries.
I guess Liz can be hung out to dry with the both of them, because once they plant the seed in her mind, she says to Santa (whom she knows to be a normal man in a Santa suit, how smart of her), “I wish... I wish for a mystery!”
Chapter 2: Diamonds and Ice
So, Jessica has her turn with Santa and gets to tell him about all the girl stuff she wants for Christmas, because she's just so feminine and DIFFERENT FROM ELIZABETH who only wants a Mystery, bless her for not being materialistic. Mr. Wakefield has to go see one of his clients and tells the kids to stay put, but Jess and Liz want to come with him because they're through with Santa. So off the three of them go, ditching those other losers/their friends. I bet Mr. Wakefield didn't tell the other parents he would be leaving the kids unattended so much, but if he had-- Oh, they probably wouldn't have cared at all. Anyway, they go to a jewelry store owned by Mr. Fox, Mr. Wakefield's client, so that dear old daddy can find a gift for the perennial Alice. He doesn't find anything, but Mr. Fox decides to show off for the girls and show them what shiny, shiny things he has. He opens a wall safe and takes out a bag of diamonds. Coincidentally, Jessica noticed a pair of men enter around this time. Apparently not knowing the rules of tempting fate, she comments to Liz that maybe the men will rob the store. Liz finds this unlikely, as they're looking pretty refined is some snazzy suits. Jessica agrees, saying she was just wishing it would happen so they would have an escape from their apparently humdrum lives.
Chapter 3: The Big Alarm
Luckily for Mr. Wakefield, the other children haven't come to any harm during his absence, but then an alarm goes off, and who would have ever guessed: Somebody's on the run with Mr. Fox's diamonds. There's a general panic as nobody knows what's going on, then the would-be robber is dashing straight for the kids. Since the children of Sweet Valley are better at helping solve crimes than actual law enforcers are, Winston sticks out his foot and trips the man, who is then caught by a guard. RIVETING.
Chapter 4: The Brown-Haired Man
So, the man in the suit with the brown hair is getting frisked by a guard or what have you and they don't come up with any diamonds. Jessica helpfully points out that not only did she see the man watching them at the jewelry store, but that he also had a friend with him that she can't see anywhere. The man in the suit is in a half, and demands to be let go or he'll charge somebody with assault and kidnapping.
They let the man go because there's no reason to hold him, but he's told he better not show his face at the mall EVER AGAIN and he leaves in a huff.
Mr. Fox's life will be RUINED without those stolen diamonds. I guess they must be worth more than all the shiny, pretty things the girls saw in his store before he even opened his safe. If the thief only got away with the diamonds Mr. Fox showed the girls, only five diamonds were stolen. They must have been pretty big, I'm just saying.
The snoopers argue for a moment about if the man might actually be the robber. Lila isn't convinced until she happens to see something on the ground with her rich-girl's eyes. It's a diamond! SHOCK! GASP! Now she can take it home and make it part of her nest/they have a new mystery to solve.
Chapter 5: The White-Haired Man
Accomplice to the Brown-Haired Man, this man has white hair! It is also curly and he wears a tie with red stripes. We know this because of Jessica's keen observations. They see him walking around looking confused, he must be looking for the preciouses they stole from Mr. Fox. If they find the diamonds before he does, they'll be heroes... but wait! Ellen points out they could get into trouble if they don't tell anyone what they found, so Todd decides they should put it to a vote. They vote unanimously in favor of keeping their secret and solving the mystery themselves, which brings up the question why they needed to vote in the first place.
Deciding they can't go solving any mysteries with an adult around, they ditch Mr. Wakefield by convincing him they need some time alone and he gives them one hour and no more than that. That's a pretty generous amount of time, considering they're on a crime scene. Oh Ned, never change.
Chapter 6: Mr. Doyle
The snoopers decide that the best course of action is to get rid of their competition, so they point the White-Haired Man out to a security guard. Unfortunately, the White-Haired Mr. Doyle denies having been involved in any sort of robbery, why he's just Christmas shopping. He even compares himself to Santa Claus, and smiles at Jessica but still has mean, mean eyes. The guard apologizes and tells the Snoopers to stop making trouble. I don't know why he thought they would try to get a random man in trouble, maybe that's how kids got their kicks back in the day. The guard makes a hasty retreat just in time for Mr. Doyle to threaten the snoopers. They should beat it, he says, or they'll be sorry!
Chapter 7: The Chase is On
Since their plan is foiled (Curses!), they decide they had better trail Mr. Doyle. Stealthy they are not. Kids are small, but it's hard not to notice when eight of them are trying to spy on you at the same time, all huddled together. Even though he knows they're following him, they still think it's a good idea to keep doing it, so they decide to split up. Half of them will keep following Mr. Doyle and the others will search between the jewelry store and Santa's Workshop for the diamonds.
Four kids aren't that much stealthier than eight kids, so I hope they don't think they're being sneaky.
Chapter 8: Time for Action
Jessica, Eva, Ellen, and Winston trail Mr. Doyle into a department store. He buys some things while they try on sunglasses and stare at him. Then they think they had better stop him from leaving to give the other snoopers more time, so Eva marches up and says he stole her shopping bag. Unlike the security guard from earlier, someone that works at the store actually cares if it's true or not and makes him open his bag. Eva says she made a mistake and the manager or whatever says she should be more careful about making scenes. Mr. Doyle drops his keys in a fit of rage/irritation and Jessica takes off with them, apparently no worse for the wear after getting sprayed in the face with perfume by a demented cosmetics counter harpy.
Chapter 9: Got You
Meanwhile, Liz, Lila, Amy and Todd are looking EVERYWHERE for the pouch with the other diamonds in it and they can't find it. Under benches, in the trash, mixed in with mail-order cheese-and-sausage packages, they aren't in any of these places. The only place left to look is the Santa Claus display, but there's a line stretching to the food court, and boy are the people in the line irritated with the wait. They won't have any cutting in line, angry mothers and irritated fathers. Apparently these people have children young enough that they can't be sent off on their own. I guess they haven't learned how to walk yet. So then Jess comes careening down the escalator with Mr. Doyle and the other Snoopers in tow, providing the distraction Elizabeth and her cohorts need to duck into the employees area of the holiday display. Jessica and the rest follow after a pack of teenagers sweep Mr. Doyle away, and they're just about to start looking for the diamonds when SOMEONE corners them!
Chapter 10: Santa and the Eight Elves
No worries, it's only Santa, and he thinks they're a fresh supply of child labor/elves. So they start dressing in elf costumes until Mr. Doyle has to turn up and spoil things, saying they aren't elves, and that Jessica is his granddaughter. She's not having that and calls him out as a liar. The rest chime in until Santa thinks they should all go outside to sort things out. Meanwhile, Jessica is the only one who notices that they've misplaced Elizabeth, who's hiding in a rack of clothing. The only remotely spy-like thing anyone's done for the whole book, and she did it by accident because she fell over and got a button caught in her hair.
Chapter 11: Rudolph
Left to her own devices, Liz searches frantically for the diamonds in the backroom and comes up empty handed. Then she starts thinking, and after peeking through the door she thinks the diamonds must be hidden out in the open with all the fake snow and ice, because diamonds are also called ice. She just manages to get her industrious little hands on the diamonds, hidden on the head of a statue of Rudolph, when Mr. Doyle demands she hand them over. What he'll do to her if she doesn't, I have no idea, seeing as they're out in the open surrounded by dozens of witnesses, and he's never been armed as far as I could tell.
Chapter 12: Ho, Ho, Ho!
Their hour is almost up, and Mr. Wakefield has come looking for them. Elizabeth ducks out of reach of Mr. Doyle, and Jessica screams about the diamonds. Security guards come running and Mr. Doyle tries to run, but the mall Santa tackles him. Mr. Fox comes running, having somehow already heard that his diamonds have been found, he must have been waiting with baited breath in his store on the second floor. He says they deserve a reward, and they say it will be their first reward ever, omigosh.
Lila asks, “Can we pick out anything in your store?”
Silly Lila, you only returned the man's livelihood. Of course not. You all get crystal snowflakes, and Mr. Fox hopes they'll make you THINK of diamonds whenever you look at them.
Elizabeth's Christmas wish came true.
THE END
I actually thought the whole thing was going to end up being something that Mr. Wakefield arranged as a Christmas gift for the girls or something. Somehow, that would make more sense.
Hey all~ Just found the community after reading my first Sweet Valley book in a long while (it was THE EVIL TWIN, what a trip), and then I decided to do a recap of one of my SVK books.
Chapter 1: A Christmas Wish
Okay, so we start out with Jessica and Elizabeth commenting on how COLD it is at the North Pole, but don't worry guys, it's just jokes. They're only getting their picture taken with a mall Santa and all the snow and ice is gloriously fake. You know what isn't fake, though? The ice cream their father can get for them and their many friends. For some reason, Lila, Ellen, Eva, Amy, Todd and Winston are in line with the twins and their Dad, sans their own parents. I guess once you've seen your kid get six pictures taken with Santa, you can foist them off on someone else while you stay at home and watch a decorator make your house look more festive for you. Lila informs them this will be her eighth picture with Santa and Todd calls shenanigans because she's seven like the rest of them, but Lila says that her mom came while she was pregnant. Do pregnant ladies often do this? Is she in the picture, or it cropped around her baby bump, these are things I want to know.
Cue the all the jazz about how Jess and Liz are the same but oh so different, and then Mr. Wakefield returns with their “ice cream,” which is actually Popsicles. Apparently, those things are the same to him. As Elizabeth hands out the Popsicles, she notices she's a lot like the children dressed as elves helping (probably against their will) at Santa's Workshop.
So, I don't know yet what goes down in this book because if I read it ever... Well, it would have been at least 12 years ago. At any rate, if somebody dies, the blame can be placed squarely on the shoulders of Winston and Lila. Winston says that golly, it sure would be neat if they had another mystery to solve, maybe even right there at the mall! Lila is having none of that, because malls are too ordinary for mysteries.
I guess Liz can be hung out to dry with the both of them, because once they plant the seed in her mind, she says to Santa (whom she knows to be a normal man in a Santa suit, how smart of her), “I wish... I wish for a mystery!”
Chapter 2: Diamonds and Ice
So, Jessica has her turn with Santa and gets to tell him about all the girl stuff she wants for Christmas, because she's just so feminine and DIFFERENT FROM ELIZABETH who only wants a Mystery, bless her for not being materialistic. Mr. Wakefield has to go see one of his clients and tells the kids to stay put, but Jess and Liz want to come with him because they're through with Santa. So off the three of them go, ditching those other losers/their friends. I bet Mr. Wakefield didn't tell the other parents he would be leaving the kids unattended so much, but if he had-- Oh, they probably wouldn't have cared at all. Anyway, they go to a jewelry store owned by Mr. Fox, Mr. Wakefield's client, so that dear old daddy can find a gift for the perennial Alice. He doesn't find anything, but Mr. Fox decides to show off for the girls and show them what shiny, shiny things he has. He opens a wall safe and takes out a bag of diamonds. Coincidentally, Jessica noticed a pair of men enter around this time. Apparently not knowing the rules of tempting fate, she comments to Liz that maybe the men will rob the store. Liz finds this unlikely, as they're looking pretty refined is some snazzy suits. Jessica agrees, saying she was just wishing it would happen so they would have an escape from their apparently humdrum lives.
Chapter 3: The Big Alarm
Luckily for Mr. Wakefield, the other children haven't come to any harm during his absence, but then an alarm goes off, and who would have ever guessed: Somebody's on the run with Mr. Fox's diamonds. There's a general panic as nobody knows what's going on, then the would-be robber is dashing straight for the kids. Since the children of Sweet Valley are better at helping solve crimes than actual law enforcers are, Winston sticks out his foot and trips the man, who is then caught by a guard. RIVETING.
Chapter 4: The Brown-Haired Man
So, the man in the suit with the brown hair is getting frisked by a guard or what have you and they don't come up with any diamonds. Jessica helpfully points out that not only did she see the man watching them at the jewelry store, but that he also had a friend with him that she can't see anywhere. The man in the suit is in a half, and demands to be let go or he'll charge somebody with assault and kidnapping.
They let the man go because there's no reason to hold him, but he's told he better not show his face at the mall EVER AGAIN and he leaves in a huff.
Mr. Fox's life will be RUINED without those stolen diamonds. I guess they must be worth more than all the shiny, pretty things the girls saw in his store before he even opened his safe. If the thief only got away with the diamonds Mr. Fox showed the girls, only five diamonds were stolen. They must have been pretty big, I'm just saying.
The snoopers argue for a moment about if the man might actually be the robber. Lila isn't convinced until she happens to see something on the ground with her rich-girl's eyes. It's a diamond! SHOCK! GASP! Now she can take it home and make it part of her nest/they have a new mystery to solve.
Chapter 5: The White-Haired Man
Accomplice to the Brown-Haired Man, this man has white hair! It is also curly and he wears a tie with red stripes. We know this because of Jessica's keen observations. They see him walking around looking confused, he must be looking for the preciouses they stole from Mr. Fox. If they find the diamonds before he does, they'll be heroes... but wait! Ellen points out they could get into trouble if they don't tell anyone what they found, so Todd decides they should put it to a vote. They vote unanimously in favor of keeping their secret and solving the mystery themselves, which brings up the question why they needed to vote in the first place.
Deciding they can't go solving any mysteries with an adult around, they ditch Mr. Wakefield by convincing him they need some time alone and he gives them one hour and no more than that. That's a pretty generous amount of time, considering they're on a crime scene. Oh Ned, never change.
Chapter 6: Mr. Doyle
The snoopers decide that the best course of action is to get rid of their competition, so they point the White-Haired Man out to a security guard. Unfortunately, the White-Haired Mr. Doyle denies having been involved in any sort of robbery, why he's just Christmas shopping. He even compares himself to Santa Claus, and smiles at Jessica but still has mean, mean eyes. The guard apologizes and tells the Snoopers to stop making trouble. I don't know why he thought they would try to get a random man in trouble, maybe that's how kids got their kicks back in the day. The guard makes a hasty retreat just in time for Mr. Doyle to threaten the snoopers. They should beat it, he says, or they'll be sorry!
Chapter 7: The Chase is On
Since their plan is foiled (Curses!), they decide they had better trail Mr. Doyle. Stealthy they are not. Kids are small, but it's hard not to notice when eight of them are trying to spy on you at the same time, all huddled together. Even though he knows they're following him, they still think it's a good idea to keep doing it, so they decide to split up. Half of them will keep following Mr. Doyle and the others will search between the jewelry store and Santa's Workshop for the diamonds.
Four kids aren't that much stealthier than eight kids, so I hope they don't think they're being sneaky.
Chapter 8: Time for Action
Jessica, Eva, Ellen, and Winston trail Mr. Doyle into a department store. He buys some things while they try on sunglasses and stare at him. Then they think they had better stop him from leaving to give the other snoopers more time, so Eva marches up and says he stole her shopping bag. Unlike the security guard from earlier, someone that works at the store actually cares if it's true or not and makes him open his bag. Eva says she made a mistake and the manager or whatever says she should be more careful about making scenes. Mr. Doyle drops his keys in a fit of rage/irritation and Jessica takes off with them, apparently no worse for the wear after getting sprayed in the face with perfume by a demented cosmetics counter harpy.
Chapter 9: Got You
Meanwhile, Liz, Lila, Amy and Todd are looking EVERYWHERE for the pouch with the other diamonds in it and they can't find it. Under benches, in the trash, mixed in with mail-order cheese-and-sausage packages, they aren't in any of these places. The only place left to look is the Santa Claus display, but there's a line stretching to the food court, and boy are the people in the line irritated with the wait. They won't have any cutting in line, angry mothers and irritated fathers. Apparently these people have children young enough that they can't be sent off on their own. I guess they haven't learned how to walk yet. So then Jess comes careening down the escalator with Mr. Doyle and the other Snoopers in tow, providing the distraction Elizabeth and her cohorts need to duck into the employees area of the holiday display. Jessica and the rest follow after a pack of teenagers sweep Mr. Doyle away, and they're just about to start looking for the diamonds when SOMEONE corners them!
Chapter 10: Santa and the Eight Elves
No worries, it's only Santa, and he thinks they're a fresh supply of child labor/elves. So they start dressing in elf costumes until Mr. Doyle has to turn up and spoil things, saying they aren't elves, and that Jessica is his granddaughter. She's not having that and calls him out as a liar. The rest chime in until Santa thinks they should all go outside to sort things out. Meanwhile, Jessica is the only one who notices that they've misplaced Elizabeth, who's hiding in a rack of clothing. The only remotely spy-like thing anyone's done for the whole book, and she did it by accident because she fell over and got a button caught in her hair.
Chapter 11: Rudolph
Left to her own devices, Liz searches frantically for the diamonds in the backroom and comes up empty handed. Then she starts thinking, and after peeking through the door she thinks the diamonds must be hidden out in the open with all the fake snow and ice, because diamonds are also called ice. She just manages to get her industrious little hands on the diamonds, hidden on the head of a statue of Rudolph, when Mr. Doyle demands she hand them over. What he'll do to her if she doesn't, I have no idea, seeing as they're out in the open surrounded by dozens of witnesses, and he's never been armed as far as I could tell.
Chapter 12: Ho, Ho, Ho!
Their hour is almost up, and Mr. Wakefield has come looking for them. Elizabeth ducks out of reach of Mr. Doyle, and Jessica screams about the diamonds. Security guards come running and Mr. Doyle tries to run, but the mall Santa tackles him. Mr. Fox comes running, having somehow already heard that his diamonds have been found, he must have been waiting with baited breath in his store on the second floor. He says they deserve a reward, and they say it will be their first reward ever, omigosh.
Lila asks, “Can we pick out anything in your store?”
Silly Lila, you only returned the man's livelihood. Of course not. You all get crystal snowflakes, and Mr. Fox hopes they'll make you THINK of diamonds whenever you look at them.
Elizabeth's Christmas wish came true.
THE END
I actually thought the whole thing was going to end up being something that Mr. Wakefield arranged as a Christmas gift for the girls or something. Somehow, that would make more sense.