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Missing Persons #2
The Chocolate Lover
Sophie and Sam Shattenberg are two Jewish sisters from Queens, New York. Both love knishes and kosher pickles. Both have said “I’m wawkin’ here!” to cab drivers—and meant it. When the unthinkable happens and their father dies, the girls are devastated. Desperate to get away from their greedy stepmother, they withdraw their father’s money from the bank, pick up fake IDs, and hit the road. All is well until their car breaks down outside of Venice, Indiana, a town so isolated that the mechanic tells them, “You could get lost here forever.” Which is exactly what they decide to do....
When Sophie starts school, she notices a flyer for a lecture featuring Professor Leo Shattenberg. Could this be their grandfather’s missing cousin, believed to be dead since World War II? At the lecture, Sam and Sophie discover that Professor Shattenberg has a missing person of his own—a childhood sweetheart who, like him, had a love of chocolate. Seeing their chance, the girls offer to help the professor find his missing sweetheart—all the time running their own investigation of him.
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 17, 2004
4 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 4, 2021
Quick, lighthearted, and entertaining.
This is my third novel by Margo Rabb and I absolutely loved it. It was really nice to revisit this series and the sisters Sam and Sophie. Even though these are older YA books, I think the books are pretty hilarious, the characters are all really likeable, and the mysteries stand the test of time. These books are just so quaint and likeable. I can't wait to finish the rest of the series, although I don't want it to end.
This is my third novel by Margo Rabb and I absolutely loved it. It was really nice to revisit this series and the sisters Sam and Sophie. Even though these are older YA books, I think the books are pretty hilarious, the characters are all really likeable, and the mysteries stand the test of time. These books are just so quaint and likeable. I can't wait to finish the rest of the series, although I don't want it to end.
March 25, 2012
I read this whole series over one sick day in high school. I've been trying to find copies ever since. They're delightfully simple and entertaining. Just cute.
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September 9, 2009When Sophie starts going to school, she sees a flyer for a lecture featuring Professor Leo Shattenberg whom Sophie thinks he is her relative. At the lecture, Sam and Sophie discover that Professor Shattenberg is looking for his wife whom is a lover of chocolate. The girls offer to help the professor find his missing wife and their adventure begins.
this biiok is quite nice for reading in your free time. I'm a mystery person and it's a fine book but it's not very exciting.
this biiok is quite nice for reading in your free time. I'm a mystery person and it's a fine book but it's not very exciting.
February 8, 2019
This book is good for what it is. It's a cute, fun mystery with some fun twists and turns, and a nice, kind romance within it. But boiled down this book is a love letter to being Jewish, to your history and your religion and your family.
July 25, 2020
Another delightful installment in this series. Of course, it's not real and none of this could happen, but it's fun to join these two strong young women on their adventures, accompanied by the family they've created from friends.
November 2, 2007
Sophie and Sam think they may have a long-lost relative and attempt to find out the truth without blowing their cover.
May 24, 2020
I really enjoy this series. Sophie's voice is very true. Even though the plots are a bit choppy at times, the characters make it worth your time.
July 16, 2019
This is a cute little middle-grade book. I'm considering rereading it in the future. As well as the sequel.
April 13, 2024
I read this years ago and my daughter just found the ARC on her bookshelf, so I reread it. It's the second book in a trilogy. I have to say that Samantha is incredibly mature for a 17-year old and Sophia epitomizes a typical 15-year old. I am happy that this trilogy includes no murders, but does include some great characters and interesting puzzles. Their Jewish NY background is a plus as is the focus on stolen Jewish-owned art by Nazis.
I have to admit that I first thought that the location--Venice--was in California. Who knew there was a Venice with an actual canal in Indiana? Well, there isn't. That part is fiction, though the city of Indianapolis does have a canal with gondolas!
I have to admit that I first thought that the location--Venice--was in California. Who knew there was a Venice with an actual canal in Indiana? Well, there isn't. That part is fiction, though the city of Indianapolis does have a canal with gondolas!
April 3, 2025
Sam and Sophie encounter a family who could be related to them but they have to keep their true identities a mystery which leads to lying to their new, maybe, family. Sophie still has poor choices in picking dates but Sam is doing well....except she may be dating her cousin. Trying to find a lost person and follow the leads of a valuable painting has the detectives busy. Gus, Sam, Sophie and sometimes Colin somehow find their way through the few clues....with only a little breaking the law.
Two teens on their own hiding from their step mother, making money by assisting in private investigation while living false lives makes for a fun read.
Two teens on their own hiding from their step mother, making money by assisting in private investigation while living false lives makes for a fun read.
June 22, 2017
this series is just so chill and fun and lighthearted it makes me happy
January 31, 2021
A good and easy read. I enjoy it very much.
February 16, 2012
I thought I would love this book. Mainly because I'm a huge mystery whore and I love characters with secrets. Ehhh, no.
And this one had so much potential - which mainly just fizzled out. I loved that the characters had a strong sisterly bond and a strong Jewish identity, because I love new culture. I actually really liked Colin and Sam, which was strange, because usually I hate the standard cliché of a girl falling for her best friend without her knowledge, but there was some real sense of the closeness and friendship between Sam and Colin in the few scenes they had together, so that worked for me. I felt that Rabb was better at handling the subplots which had a little more fizz and edge to them, like the developing romance between Sophie and Josh, who may or may not be Sophie's second cousin, because it got some pretty good lines like, "Since Sophie had never even been on a real date before, having her first one with her cousin might be a good way to ease her into it." I really liked it because they had cute chemistry and nice scenes together, but I didn't know where Rabb was going with it - the unpredictability, fun farcical tone and curiosity of that subplot, though, kind of showed up how dull and standard the rest were.
Unfortunately, the other strands of the plot didn't really have anything twisty or intriguing about them, which was fatal to the mystery subplot of the book. This probably just comes from starting at the second book in the series (it was all I could pick up at the cheap store!), but I didn't really care enough with the subplot about the private investigator that Sam and Sophie's evil stepmother had hired to track them down, since I had no idea what they were running away from. (It was recapped in the book, but not really fleshed out enough to give me the "holy crap what if they get caught?!" feeling, so that one lacked any tension. I don't need bloodshed in my mysteries to care about things like this - in fact, I found it refreshing that this was a relatively light mystery - but it had absolutely none of the things I like about mysteries. Twists, red herrings, most of all: surprises. It ends up that exactly what we thought is going on is going on, and I don't mean that in a "look at me I'm so clever I guessed it" way; there is literally no other plot twists or red herrings and it just turns out that the idea Sam had about what had happened had, actually, happened. Even in the big denouement, which featured Sam and Colin breaking into a gallery, didn't have the giggly tension that it should have because I didn't for one second believed that Rabb would take any risks.
Gus, the grumpy private detective with a heart of gold, was mostly a cliché, as was Leo Shattenberg, the ancient professor and cool old guy who tracked them down to find his lost love for him. I don't mind that because these familiar roles gave me a nice feel for the old-fashioned noiry/detective feel that Rabb had going on. It's a pity that the rest of the book fell so flat and failed to maintain anything that I like about the detective genre. Still, I'll probably check out the rest of the books in the series, because this one was fast and fun enough, it was just near the end (when I realised that Rabb planned to pull literally no surprises, or even an attempt at a surprise) that it fell flat for me.
And this one had so much potential - which mainly just fizzled out. I loved that the characters had a strong sisterly bond and a strong Jewish identity, because I love new culture. I actually really liked Colin and Sam, which was strange, because usually I hate the standard cliché of a girl falling for her best friend without her knowledge, but there was some real sense of the closeness and friendship between Sam and Colin in the few scenes they had together, so that worked for me. I felt that Rabb was better at handling the subplots which had a little more fizz and edge to them, like the developing romance between Sophie and Josh, who may or may not be Sophie's second cousin, because it got some pretty good lines like, "Since Sophie had never even been on a real date before, having her first one with her cousin might be a good way to ease her into it." I really liked it because they had cute chemistry and nice scenes together, but I didn't know where Rabb was going with it - the unpredictability, fun farcical tone and curiosity of that subplot, though, kind of showed up how dull and standard the rest were.
Unfortunately, the other strands of the plot didn't really have anything twisty or intriguing about them, which was fatal to the mystery subplot of the book. This probably just comes from starting at the second book in the series (it was all I could pick up at the cheap store!), but I didn't really care enough with the subplot about the private investigator that Sam and Sophie's evil stepmother had hired to track them down, since I had no idea what they were running away from. (It was recapped in the book, but not really fleshed out enough to give me the "holy crap what if they get caught?!" feeling, so that one lacked any tension. I don't need bloodshed in my mysteries to care about things like this - in fact, I found it refreshing that this was a relatively light mystery - but it had absolutely none of the things I like about mysteries. Twists, red herrings, most of all: surprises. It ends up that exactly what we thought is going on is going on, and I don't mean that in a "look at me I'm so clever I guessed it" way; there is literally no other plot twists or red herrings and it just turns out that the idea Sam had about what had happened had, actually, happened. Even in the big denouement, which featured Sam and Colin breaking into a gallery, didn't have the giggly tension that it should have because I didn't for one second believed that Rabb would take any risks.
Gus, the grumpy private detective with a heart of gold, was mostly a cliché, as was Leo Shattenberg, the ancient professor and cool old guy who tracked them down to find his lost love for him. I don't mind that because these familiar roles gave me a nice feel for the old-fashioned noiry/detective feel that Rabb had going on. It's a pity that the rest of the book fell so flat and failed to maintain anything that I like about the detective genre. Still, I'll probably check out the rest of the books in the series, because this one was fast and fun enough, it was just near the end (when I realised that Rabb planned to pull literally no surprises, or even an attempt at a surprise) that it fell flat for me.
June 12, 2008
This is the second book from the series of four. This book is when Sam met Joshua whom will be her boyfriend throughout teh series. It turns out taht Joshua has the sam elast name as Sam and Sam is scared taht they are related so they cannot be together. All the while, they are trying to find teh lost lover of Joshua's grandfather becasue she has been missing for years. Sam and her sister in the end straightens ou tteh whole misunderstanding fifty years ago between the old couple. in the end, Sam found out that she is not related to Joshua.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2019
i might have been the only person in my library who read this during the early days of ya (i'm dating myself, but when i was in middle school there weren't that many ya books published), and it's sad that it's hard to find a print version of this series. maybe it was because the sisters are from queens and seemed like people i would know, or the fact that there was mystery in a small-town kind of vibe, i really enjoyed this four-book series.
September 18, 2008
Another good installment in this series. I particularly enjoyed the possible cousins they found and the sister ,Sam ,dating him! The WW2 elements are an interesting angle as well. This is such a nice non- murdering series for young adults and other mystery lovers. The sisters do a lot of growing in this book.
July 11, 2015
In the book the Chocolate Lover by M.E. Rabb I loved the action and suspense that came with the book. The case was very fun to read about. my favorite part of the book was when Sam and Sophie thought that they found relitives near where they were living the whole story was very interesting after that! I loved the book and I would recomend the book for anybody!
July 22, 2008
the first one to the rose queen
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December 3, 2008its alright so far its about sisters who runawy from queens(where they live)and they try to make new lives for themselves and they moved to indiana.
July 8, 2010
This series is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 15, 2014
I read this in the Winter of 2004-2005. I really enjoyed this series.
January 14, 2015
Love the mystery. Read it when I was a teen and the reading experience stayed with me. Loved this series!
May 31, 2008
Good! even the second time is good!
May 9, 2009
read a while ago
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May 10, 2010F RAB mp bk.2
November 1, 2011
kept me turning the pages.
May 28, 2012
This is the second book in this series. I enjoyed learning more about the characters.
September 6, 2014
fun simple beach read-
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews