The Case of the Claymore Diamond

The Math Inspectors #1

by Daniel Kenney, Emily Boever

When the Claymore Diamond is stolen from Ravensburg’s finest jewelry store, Stanley Carusoe gets the bright idea that he and his friends should start a detective agency. Armed with curiosity and their love for math, Stanley, Charlotte, Gertie and Felix race around town in an attempt to solve the mystery. Along the way, they butt heads with an ambitious police chief, uncover dark secrets, and drink lots of milkshakes at Mabel's Diner. But when their backs are against the wall, Stanley and his friends rely on the one thing they know best: numbers. Because numbers, they never lie.

Genres: Childrens, Mystery, Middle Grade, Mathematics, Fiction, Amazon, School

165 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 2014

About the author

Daniel Kenney and his wife Teresa live in Omaha, Nebraska with zero cats, zero dogs, one gecko, and lots of kids. When those kids aren't driving him nuts, he writes writes books and does a lot of laundry. A lot. No, seriously, you can't possibly imagine how much laundry he does.

Reviews

[Karen Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted something to read that was quick and easy. Something that held my attention and just took me for a ride, without having to work for it.

I saw this ebook and liked the premise, so decided to give it a try. Maths isn't my thing and I was a bit concerned that might be an issue, but it wasn't.

The author kept the pace going. The inspector team worked well together and I enjoyed the humour and the mystery side of the storyline. The book includes some black and white illustrations, which I felt complemented the story, and gave the author's impression on what the four main characters look like. Again, I have no issue with that.

My only issue is that while the first book is free, the second book costs $6.49 for Australians to purchase, and that is expensive (in my opinion). I refuse to pay that so will be leaving the series here, which is a shame.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une enquête très sympa pour les jeunes lecteurs ! Je voudrais encore plus de maths dans le prochain ;)

[Snazzy Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Jack Leone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stanley, Felix, Gertie and Charlotte are the main characters in this story. They are a group of friends who like to solve mysteries. When the Claymore Diamond is stolen from their local jewelry store, the Math inspectors are on the case immediately. They hear sides of the story from the police, the lady owning the shop next door, the jewelry store owner, and the suspect. The thief came in and got into a fight with the store owner, and the thief hit the store owner in the head with a jagged paperweight. When the owner woke up, the Claymore diamond was gone. Then, they went to see the store owner in the hospital. His cut on his head was clean and straight, not the way a jagged paperweight would have cut.They think that the store owner did it to get the insurance money, but when they bring their theory to the police, the suspect confesses he did it.
The Math Inspectors are very confused, so they re-investigate all their evidence. They are sure it doesn’t add up, so they decide to spy on the store owner. They watch him from a tree in his backyard, and they see him bury something in his backyard, so they call the police. When they dug it up, they found that it was the Claymore Diamond. The shop owner did it for the insurance money of $100,000. The Math Inspectors solved the mystery. This book was very interesting and I would not have suspected it to be the shop owner. I Would recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries.

[Bonnie Gleckler Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read… And I do believe that either of my granddaughters would enjoy reading this book. My only concern, and perhaps that's because I'm an adult, is that there is no brief introduction to the three main characters. We find Stanley, Gertie, and Felix up in A treehouse spying on a piece of birthday cake that Felix plans to eat later. The cake happens to be sitting on the counter in Felix house. From here the story develops and the very smart mathematically thinking kids get involved in solving the mystery of the missing cake but also the robbery oh the Claymore diamond. I'll have to give some thought to whether I actually purchase this as a gift for my girls. Though the storyline is cute and would invoke the reader to think mathematically, i'm not sure I'll buy it.

[Ryan Myette · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good. If you are one of those kids who hate math(like me),it’s good and really just about kids who are good at math and start a investigating club.If you have watched the show investigators on Netflix,maybe Hulu(no idea if it’s really on there, just saying),or other apps and didn’t like it, it’s fine.It isn’that alike.So the storyline is that the kids start a investigating club and they’re good at math.The police thought a person stole a 100,000 diamond.But one of the policemen really did it. That’s the story.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this was a Kindle freebie, and the editing showed that it was. I didn't get notice there was an updated version of the book until after I had read it, so I do not know if the errors I picked out were corrected.

Bad part out of the way, let's move on to the fun bits, because this was a fun book to read. The premise is a group of children from a detective agency, but use math to figure out the mysteries. And the reader cam play along with the kids. The word problems are there and all the reader has to do is figure them out.

I really enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the math aspect and the mystery was clever, though I figured it out well before the kids or adults in the book. On the whole it seems to be the beginning of a fun series. I will have to check out the rest of the series, even if they are not free!

Just in case you're worried about the math, there were no daunting word problems and the characters walk the readers through working them out, so you will not be stumped for long.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. My 8 year old (2nd grade) son really loved the book. There are both boy and girl main characters so this would still be fun for a girl too. The books are meant for 9-13 but a 2nd grader with good reading skills could read and enjoy the books easily. We’ve purchased the whole series, and have read the first 2 and are currently halfway through the 3rd. The third one has even got me teary eyed (but I won’t spoil any plot lines here). The books are well written and I (mom) enjoy the storylines as well. The story’s have humor and mystery and some real world math applications too which have been great challenges for my son to see if he can solve them correctly before we read on. The characters are fantastic and we are always cracking up over their antics. I highly recommend this series to 2nd through 5th graders. My kindergarten daughter (she is on the younger side of the grade at only 5) has a hard time staying engaged but that’s a product of her age and attention span but she does enjoys a chapter before she’s off looking at her books.

[H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Between 1 and 2 stars. The mystery is bad and the math is just for kids, with the mystery clues not being given til the revelation, plus police and fake criminal confession is unrealistic (in real life, someone paying money for a diamond would have tax proof that he has been making payments), and the kids got the info from police and people like the culprit too easily. (WHY would the criminal old man let himself be interviewed by kids at the hospital, and why didnt the police check his injury with the nurse?)

The closest thing to a saving grace is the final trap when the criminal thinks police are coming since he was lied to and tries to bury the evidence, letting the kids find it. But eh, still a terrible mystery and bad book. Maybe a kid would like it, but I think it doesnt do a great job at using math.

Einstein Anderson is a better, scientific kid detective, and there's probably other math books that would work better I think.

[Kent Archie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This appears to be a very popular book. I put in a request via my library and it tool 8 months before it got to me.
The little bit of combinatorics was nice and the kind of mathematical thinking the kids used to find holes in the investigation was pretty good.
Its good if you have a young math nerd at home to read about kids like them.
It's still common in the US that smart kids who are good at math and science are seen as weirdos.
So seeing some role models is important.
But the author gets a little lazy when the kids think they need financial information about somebody and just get it by downloading the persons tax forms.
These are not public information and breaking into the IRS is a Federal crime.
It maintains the popular myth that kids are computer exports.
You might want to point this out to your kids.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute quick read. You will love the characters Stanley, Charlotte, Gertie and Felix, each with their own specialties and quirks@@@

A rare and expensive diamond was stolen from their local jewelry store and there was only one person seen leaving the store. So he was arrested. But, the 'math inspectors' felt there was just something not right with the sequence of events, and how the conflicting stories didn't make sense.

I love this book because it gives your kids a great chance to help figure out along the way what stands out as being 'weird' and follow along as the kids do the deductive reasoning.
Highly recommend

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this to preview for my kids. I was not impressed. The book tends to imply that most of the adults aren’t very smart (a character can’t rhyme for example). Gertie is described as having chubby cheeks and says “I do hate you” to Felix who is skinny and trying to put on weight and orders a large milkshake.

The book includes the first two chapters of book 2, which I found to be problematic. Gertie is made fun of by an adult for her order at a hot dog stand and called pudgy and asked if that is good for her diet. We will not be reading this series even though my daughter loves math.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was “okay”. I was looking for something as a read aloud to my 5th grade math class. This seemed like a great option. In the end I think I’ll pass. The kids might enjoy this simple story but there’s elements I didn’t love as a read aloud for my class at a Christian school, mainly a comment about the “chubby girl” and the main mystery involving gambling. I think there’s so much more that could have been done with this story and the 4 main kids as the math inspectors.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently aimed at 9-12 year olds but I woud say definitely at the lower end of that age range. I really liked the front cover but the illustrations inside were disappointing. I'm not sure really who this would appeal to as the plot was quite slight and I think that maths enthusiasts would find the maths a bit disappointing.

[Kari Scyoc Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read with my math- loving 8 year old. As an adult, I was unimpressed with the plot, character development, etc, but seeing as it's a book written for 9-12 year olds, my opinion doesn't matter. He enjoyed the story and how quick- paced it was, as well as the word problems at the back of the book. He wanted to dive right into #2 of the series.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

In case you missed it ....

This delightful little mystery has 4 sixth grade friends discover the criminal, free the falsely accused, and make the news. I love their clubhouse.
Edits: chapter 7 kneeled should be knelt down. chapter 10. who should be while.

[Mary Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read! I read this to see if my grandson would like it and the math included in the story. He would enjoy the mystery. The story would be a great way to introduce real life math problems to an upper elementary class.

[M.K. Tufft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun mystery

This is a spin on a Scooby Do mystery where the kids check the facts and use math as a logic check. So it tries to change attitudes about math with a fun story.
It’s a quick read that fans of Encyclopedia Brown should enjoy.

[Angie Gomez · Rating 3 out of 5]

me and my nephew read it.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever detective story about a group of friends who use math to solve mysteries. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series about these four friends.

[Benignus Bitu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for people who like detective work

I find that this book gives a feeling that makes it more interesting than any other similar book that I like.

[Lynn Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what it is 4*

Cute and fun mystery. Short and easy to read with some nice line sketch illustrations. Considering the length, the characters are pretty well developed.

[Anastasia Rakovalis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even like math, but these books are absolutely hilarious! I read them aloud to my brothers a couple years back, and we were all dying laughing.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm bored.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

B-. fiction, children's fiction, grade 4, mystery, robbery, friends, series, (Math Inspectors, #1)

[Azure · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a few colluqualisms like: "cook the books"

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and easy read, but my biggest issue comes from the tax returns showing the last six months of income.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is an amazing book with great mysteries and I can't wait to read #2!!!!

[Cathy Smyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

After many stops and starts, my nephew ( age 9) and I finally finished this mystery! He gives it five stars!

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is the best mystery I have read