Summary:
When Stephanie Diamond arrives in Winnipeg she doesn’t
expect to be solving a crime, especially not when freezing to death. However,
when she learns about Jesse’s uncle, Misha’s, problem she has to change her
plans about him from flirting to crime-solving. Misha had recently joined a
carnivorous plants group. Now, someone stole a lot of money’s worth of rare
carnivorous plants from the greenhouse they were using to keep the plants ready
for display at the Winnipeg Museum. Not to mention, whoever did do the crime
managed to frame Misha as his car was
the only car that passed by the home of the owner of the greenhouse. Stevie and
Jesse go with a reluctant Micha to find out a little more about the case at the
next carnivore club meeting.. The owner of the greenhouse, Muffy, has a huge
house. She is rather old and it is her greenhouse so they don’t identify her as
a suspect. Then, there is Veda Bickel, the leader of the carnivore club, who
hates Micha. This makes her a suspect because she could have gained money and
gotten rid of Micha, in one go. There is then Lester, a world-renowned expert
on carnivorous plants. While Stevie thinks he is innocent, Jesse, a vegetarian
thinks that he is guilty because he enjoys the death of innocent insects. Stevie just writes him down as a suspect not
to argue with Jesse. The next day, they go to Oliver’s house, Micha’s best
friend. They find a huge ice rink in the backyard. Unfortunately for Stevie,
she doesn’t really know how to ice skate. She does, however, overhear Oliver
saying he feels rich and Micha saying that he can take his car whenever he
wants. Stevie adds him to their list of suspects. Later, when Stevie is looking
for the pet hamster she finds soil in Oliver’s room. They then go back to
Bobbi’s house to spend time with Jesse’s relatives. The next day, Stevie has
the idea to make a trap, and stakeout the thief. She designs it like a
carnivorous plant by using the promise of valuable plants to lure in the thief
and a super strong glue to get him stuck. Stevie and Jesse sleep there but they
wake up with Jesse somehow in the pool of glue. However, there are leads that
Stevie is positive she touched a face and heard something resembling a lawn
mower. Also, there are footprints that suggest big feet. The next day, they go
out in search of one last piece of evidence when the blizzard strikes. How will
they catch the thief now? Who is the thief?
Main Characters:
Stevie Diamond: Stephanie Diamond is a twelve year old,
going to 13, novice sleuth who lives in Vancouver. She is the main character of
this book. The three main personality traits I would describe her as are
clever, socially awkward, and stubborn. She is clever because she put together
the evidence to find the true culprit of the crime and because she has the idea
to make a trap based on how carnivorous plans work. I describe her as socially
awkward because she gives Micha the impression that she is outrageous. She is
stubborn because she refused to wear a lot of layers when she came to Winnipeg
but she was freezing as soon as she came out of the airport.
Jesse Kulniki: Jesse Kulniki is Stevie’s friend, neighbor
and detective partner. They work together on all their cases. Jesse is a
vegetarian and he loves birds. The main adjective I would use to describe him
is squeamish because he is scared of the carnivorous plants and because he
feels pity for the insects.
Setting: This book takes place in Winnipeg during modern
time; to be exact I would say the late 1980’s during the weeks after Christmas
and at the time of New Years. As minor settings there is the Winnipeg museum,
Oliver’s house, Bobbi’s house, Muffy’s house, and the house of the neighbors.
Theme: I think the main theme of this book is manipulation
because the real culprit of the crimes used manipulation to at first not even
be considered as a suspect. The main theme is also manipulation because Stevie
and Jessie try manipulating the culprit into a trap to catch him.
Reflection: I would rate this book a 6 or 7 out of 10
because, though it is very good and thought provoking. However, I would personally
prefer a more important crime, like a murder, and professional detectives. I
would recommend this book to people who like mysteries with teenage detectives.
I would also recommend this to people who are fascinated by how carnivorous
plants work, as this book talks about the subject often. This book is a very
good way to get your brain thinking. It gets your brain analyzing
possibilities. It gets you looking for explanations not even in the book. What
is good about this book over many other books in this genre is that it ties up
all loose ends and that it shows a bit of life other than the case and gives a
background about the detective.
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