What do you think?
Rate this book
Max the Detective Cat #2
Max the Detective Cat: The Phantom Portrait
Max is ready to solve another case!
The entire theatre company have travelled to Lord Fawley's castle to put on a show for his daughter's Halloween birthday ball! Rehearsals start well, but soon some ghostly goings-on and talk of a family curse have the actors in a panic.
Never fear - Max the detective cat is on the case, and his whiskers are prickling with suspicion that these strange events have more to do with jewels than ghouls...
The entire theatre company have travelled to Lord Fawley's castle to put on a show for his daughter's Halloween birthday ball! Rehearsals start well, but soon some ghostly goings-on and talk of a family curse have the actors in a panic.
Never fear - Max the detective cat is on the case, and his whiskers are prickling with suspicion that these strange events have more to do with jewels than ghouls...
- GenresAnimals
208 pages, Paperback
Published September 6, 2018
2 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Todd Taylor
14 books22 followersSarah is a children's writer from Mid Wales. Her debut book, Arthur and Me, was published by Firefly Press in October 2014. She adores puzzles, codes and mysteries and is the author of the Max the Detective Cat series and the Alice Éclair : Spy Extraordinaire series, both published by Nosy Crow.
When not writing she can be found singing opera round mid Wales.
When not writing she can be found singing opera round mid Wales.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 15, 2023
A gift from my nephew and I can see why! What a delightful, fun, clever, well-written book! And filled with just enough illustrations, each one beautiful with just the right feel for the story, adding to it without giving anything away (and the illustrations matched the text. It's a pet-peeve of mine when the illustrations don't perfectly match the descriptions).
I love the characters, the mystery, the setting. Everything is simply top-notch! A great mystery that's relatively tame (though a surprisingly dramatic ending and the theme of ghosts throughout) but nothing that felt out of line for the target audience. And, though I am many decades beyond the target audience, I enjoyed this book no less and found the writing engaging, the characters purr-fect, and the mystery delightfully detailed and layered.
A true treat and I will be seeking out more books in this series and more books by Sarah Todd Taylor!
I love the characters, the mystery, the setting. Everything is simply top-notch! A great mystery that's relatively tame (though a surprisingly dramatic ending and the theme of ghosts throughout) but nothing that felt out of line for the target audience. And, though I am many decades beyond the target audience, I enjoyed this book no less and found the writing engaging, the characters purr-fect, and the mystery delightfully detailed and layered.
A true treat and I will be seeking out more books in this series and more books by Sarah Todd Taylor!
October 27, 2023
Totally enjoyable and lots of fun! This made a very fun not-so-scary Halloween read. I loved the pictures (so cute!) and it seems like the author and illustrator really know cats. There's a fun cast of characters and an intriguing mystery, and a Halloween ball to top it all off. I'm very happy to have met Max!
July 30, 2023
The Max the Detective Cat series is such a breath of fresh air! My oldest is ready to move on to more complex mysteries than most chapter book series offer but not quite ready for the more intense peril, murders, angst etc. that tend to pepper many middle grade mysteries (at least, the ones I've come across here in the US). We have "hopped the pond" (virtually -- thank you, Blackwells) to expand our search and found some winners there. Sarah Todd Taylor's books deliver exactly what we wanted! (Also love her Alice Elcair series -- reviews to come!) I absolutely love that the Max books don't dummy down in the slightest when it comes to writing style and character development, while still delivering a fairly gentle mystery and an engaging feline hero that helps bridge the gap between chapter books and fare for more mature readers. Great decision that Max is not a magic "talking cat" as one might tend to expect from books for the elementary crowd. We know what he is thinking, and he communicates expressively with the humans, but only with typical cat behaviors and sounds. He does "talk" with other cats and certainly does more than a real house cat would be able to do in terms of "sleuthing" but it's never so over-the-top that it's not at least somewhat believable that a cat could do those things. I love the setting with early 1900s England and France, the theater aspects (the author has an opera and theater background and it shows) and it feels delightfully British in tone. All three are solid stories. The Disappearing Diva has a fabulous theater atmosphere that this thespian bookworm especially loved. The Phantom Portrait takes place at Halloween and I think it would be a real treat for readers who want something a little spooky and atmospheric for that time of year but nothing too creepy. The Catnip Case might be a little troubling for youngsters sensitive to animal peril, but it was nice to see more cats than in the previous books (and even some female felines for a change) and, as you would expect in a book for this target audience, all ends well. My son gives them all between 4.5 and 5 stars and said he especially enjoys the characterization and pacing. We wish there were more books in the series but it appears the author has moved on to other series so we look forward to whatever she writes next.
October 24, 2018
Great fun tale about heroic cats, ghostly goings on and missing diamonds. Love these books, they’re so fun!
August 11, 2019
Max and Oscar are a purrfect detective duo, and the illustrations are sublime
April 2, 2020
This was a gorgeous book. Max is so sweet and funny, the mystery is just right, and the illustrations suit the writing perfectly.
March 23, 2023
Чудова книженція в стилі детективів Агати Крісті, де викривачами детективами є коти. Занадто складна для дитини 3.5 років, але як доня підросте, то ще перечитуватимемо, бо мені дуже сподобалась.
October 18, 2023
it was very interesting at the end with a twist I personally was not expecting.
January 10, 2022
Please see also my review of book 1.
The Plot.
Max, Oscar and the cast and crew of the theatre decamp from London to Sussex and Lord Fawley's castle to give a special, one-off performance in celebration of his daughters birthday. Along the way their car swerves, and both Max and Oscar get thrown out the window and get left behind. They have to trail through a scary night haunted by owls and other worrying sounds (like the shrill squeak of mice, all of which scare Max!) until they eventually find the castle, and safety.
It should be a fun outing, and everyone is looking forwards to not only their own show but the other entertainment that includes a masked ball. BUT Max soon senses there is something amiss in the castle when he hears footsteps beside him but there is nobody there. It seems there is a ghost in residence and a haunted portrait, some long lost diamond tiara, and a prophecy of doom should the castle's old and locked up theatre is reopened – the very same theatre the cast and crew will perform in!
Not long after some ghostly terrifying experiences, a last-minute guest arrives in the form of Antonio, a 'physical researcher' ghost catcher. Too much of a timely coincidence?
Max thinks not and gets embroiled in a perilous, and to quote the book, "HAIR RAISING" ghoulish mystery to enthral us all.
A worthy sequel to the first book, and I suspect will be a firm favourite of kids and adult feline lovers everywhere for years to come.
The Plot.
Max, Oscar and the cast and crew of the theatre decamp from London to Sussex and Lord Fawley's castle to give a special, one-off performance in celebration of his daughters birthday. Along the way their car swerves, and both Max and Oscar get thrown out the window and get left behind. They have to trail through a scary night haunted by owls and other worrying sounds (like the shrill squeak of mice, all of which scare Max!) until they eventually find the castle, and safety.
It should be a fun outing, and everyone is looking forwards to not only their own show but the other entertainment that includes a masked ball. BUT Max soon senses there is something amiss in the castle when he hears footsteps beside him but there is nobody there. It seems there is a ghost in residence and a haunted portrait, some long lost diamond tiara, and a prophecy of doom should the castle's old and locked up theatre is reopened – the very same theatre the cast and crew will perform in!
Not long after some ghostly terrifying experiences, a last-minute guest arrives in the form of Antonio, a 'physical researcher' ghost catcher. Too much of a timely coincidence?
Max thinks not and gets embroiled in a perilous, and to quote the book, "HAIR RAISING" ghoulish mystery to enthral us all.
A worthy sequel to the first book, and I suspect will be a firm favourite of kids and adult feline lovers everywhere for years to come.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews