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Max & Maddy #1
The Chocolate Money Mystery
Paperback. Pub Date: 2006 Pages: 80 Language: English Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing. the PLC Max and Maddy Twist's parents were once famous international detectives - before the evil Professor Sardine ruined their careers. that is Now they run an ice-cream parlour. and it is the services of their crime-busting Cluedo-champion children that are called upon. Mr Huffendort. a rich Swiss banker is very worried about a series of raids upon banks. carried out by a team of highly -trained St Bernard dogs! Who can be the criminal mastermind behind this evil and cunning plot It's time for Max and Maddy to pack their hats. scarves and various disguises. and fly to Switzerland to find out ...
80 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 1997
4 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
About the author
Alexander McCall Smith
673 books12.7k followersAlexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
November 30, 2025
I listened to this book on audiobook from the library. The author is a favorite author of mine! There are a couple books series that he has written for adults that I have thoroughly enjoyed, including the ladies number one detective Agency and Isabel Dalhousie series.
How fun to delve into children’s stories. This took about an hour to listen to. I believe it’s a chapter book that is suitable for younger children who are getting used to reading on their own or are starting to enjoy chapter books being read to them.
I enjoyed the plot very much. I like the addition of the St. Bernard dogs with the Bank robberies. Very clever story, not too detailed or complex. The bad guy is also featured in the second book for children by the same author characters, Max and Maddie.
How fun to delve into children’s stories. This took about an hour to listen to. I believe it’s a chapter book that is suitable for younger children who are getting used to reading on their own or are starting to enjoy chapter books being read to them.
I enjoyed the plot very much. I like the addition of the St. Bernard dogs with the Bank robberies. Very clever story, not too detailed or complex. The bad guy is also featured in the second book for children by the same author characters, Max and Maddie.
February 10, 2025
In January my bookclub waned us to read a book with the word "chocolate" in the title. While looking around for a suitable book I came across this title and, although it hasn't been my first choice, I decided to read it anyway.
I love the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency serie and I wanted to see if Max & Maddy could be fit for the younger readers in the family.
Indeed they are! I can't wait to pass it on as a present to my nephew.
I love the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency serie and I wanted to see if Max & Maddy could be fit for the younger readers in the family.
Indeed they are! I can't wait to pass it on as a present to my nephew.
August 13, 2021
Daha iyisi gelene kadar en iyisi bu
September 10, 2011
Alexander McCall Smith's 'The Chocolate Money Mystery' sees two siblings, Max and Maddy, take on the villainous Professor Sardine and his assistant in the backdrop of the picturesque and snow-glistened Swiss alps.
The book is written in a style that will allow children to put themselves in the place of Max and Maddy as they leave their family home to help Swiss banker Mr Huddendorf in finding out who has been stealing the bank's money. The children soon discover that the evil Professor Sardine had been using St Bernard dogs to take money from banks and bring it back to him to store in his mountain hideout. The children manage to follow the Professor back to his lair and make a getaway, with the dogs and the money, whilst the villains sleep.
The story ends with the children returning the cash to a grateful Mr Huddendorf and sees them rewarded in chocolate money!
This story is written very much in the style of a Scooby Doo mystery and would be best for independent reading for children aged between 7 and 9 years old. There are only a handful of pictures and full pages of text. Overall the best facet of this book is the fact that the children are likely to be familiar with the format and will enjoy immersing themselves into the novel, picturing themselves either riding a cable car or enjoying Swiss hot chocolate.
The book is written in a style that will allow children to put themselves in the place of Max and Maddy as they leave their family home to help Swiss banker Mr Huddendorf in finding out who has been stealing the bank's money. The children soon discover that the evil Professor Sardine had been using St Bernard dogs to take money from banks and bring it back to him to store in his mountain hideout. The children manage to follow the Professor back to his lair and make a getaway, with the dogs and the money, whilst the villains sleep.
The story ends with the children returning the cash to a grateful Mr Huddendorf and sees them rewarded in chocolate money!
This story is written very much in the style of a Scooby Doo mystery and would be best for independent reading for children aged between 7 and 9 years old. There are only a handful of pictures and full pages of text. Overall the best facet of this book is the fact that the children are likely to be familiar with the format and will enjoy immersing themselves into the novel, picturing themselves either riding a cable car or enjoying Swiss hot chocolate.
January 14, 2013
This is the first book in the Max & Maddy series by Alexander McCall Smith. There are only two books in the series, so I'm guessing this series just didn't take off. I can kinda see why.
The story is very odd and implausible and despite the action and drama, the plot falls flat. The book begins with conflict and history that precedes this tale, but with very little details. That story begs to be told, but from what I can tell, it's not going to be.
Overall, the story was okay, but not great. It was a fairly quick read and we followed this book with the second story, hoping it would be better. Meh.
The story is very odd and implausible and despite the action and drama, the plot falls flat. The book begins with conflict and history that precedes this tale, but with very little details. That story begs to be told, but from what I can tell, it's not going to be.
Overall, the story was okay, but not great. It was a fairly quick read and we followed this book with the second story, hoping it would be better. Meh.
August 24, 2018
Complete adventure in one hour. McCall Smith gives us child detectives. And chocolate.
We are going through a lot of the author's children's books on audiobook at the moment, my seven-year-old is really taken with him. This is a part of a series featuring Max and Maddy, but it didn't need knowledge of the characters to follow what was happening, as often happens, you get some detail as to their history.
The title caught our eyes, and we did like the story too - Max and Maddy are Cluedo champions, which may not be suprising really, as their parents were famous and talented detectives, before a nefarious criminal set them up and caused their business to fail. But now the children are asked to use their skills to solve a series of Swiss bank robberies, which St Bernard dogs are carrying out. Will they be able to solve the puzzle?
It all happens in the space of one hour (we listened to the audiobook), which was a couple of days' worth of commuting time. Both of us enjoyed the 'swiss chocolate' element, and we talked about St Bernards too. It's a fairly basic story and stereotypical villain, but my son was happy listening.
I would say that McCall Smith does not make the ideal narrator, he has a very low voice and I found I needed to turn the sound up more than I usually would to be able to make out everything he said. That aside, his reading was fine.
Short stories like that work well at bedtimes, and the interest level in this tale would probably target the age 6-9 market.
We are going through a lot of the author's children's books on audiobook at the moment, my seven-year-old is really taken with him. This is a part of a series featuring Max and Maddy, but it didn't need knowledge of the characters to follow what was happening, as often happens, you get some detail as to their history.
The title caught our eyes, and we did like the story too - Max and Maddy are Cluedo champions, which may not be suprising really, as their parents were famous and talented detectives, before a nefarious criminal set them up and caused their business to fail. But now the children are asked to use their skills to solve a series of Swiss bank robberies, which St Bernard dogs are carrying out. Will they be able to solve the puzzle?
It all happens in the space of one hour (we listened to the audiobook), which was a couple of days' worth of commuting time. Both of us enjoyed the 'swiss chocolate' element, and we talked about St Bernards too. It's a fairly basic story and stereotypical villain, but my son was happy listening.
I would say that McCall Smith does not make the ideal narrator, he has a very low voice and I found I needed to turn the sound up more than I usually would to be able to make out everything he said. That aside, his reading was fine.
Short stories like that work well at bedtimes, and the interest level in this tale would probably target the age 6-9 market.
May 20, 2021
Jestha 6, 2078, Thursday
Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery - Alexander McCall Smith, Macky Pamintuan (Illustrator) (1997)
(Max & Maddy #1)
Genres: Children’s Literature/ Mystery
Pages: 80
Rating: 3.5/10
Themes: Mystery/ Ingenuity
Opener:
“On the very edge of the town in which Max and Maddy Twist lived there was an icecream parlour.”
Summary:
Max and Maddy Twist have a flair for solving crimes. You might even say it's in their blood. That's because their parents once ran a thriving detective agency - until their nemesis, the notorious Professor Claude Sardine, shut them down.
But now Max and Maddy are ready to pick up where their parents left off. In Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery, a Swiss businessman asks for their help in catching a bank robber. But little do the brother-and-sister detectives expect to find themselves hot on the trail of a gang of . . . St. Bernard dogs.
Who can be the dastardly mind behind this evil and cunning plot? The daring duo don their disguises and fly to Switzerland to find out!
Verdict:
As it turns out, I had not missed out on anything by reading the second book because the first one is still mediocre, if not slightly worse. I sort of can hazard why this series was discontinued. Forgettable is all.
Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery - Alexander McCall Smith, Macky Pamintuan (Illustrator) (1997)
(Max & Maddy #1)
Genres: Children’s Literature/ Mystery
Pages: 80
Rating: 3.5/10
Themes: Mystery/ Ingenuity
Opener:
“On the very edge of the town in which Max and Maddy Twist lived there was an icecream parlour.”
Summary:
Max and Maddy Twist have a flair for solving crimes. You might even say it's in their blood. That's because their parents once ran a thriving detective agency - until their nemesis, the notorious Professor Claude Sardine, shut them down.
But now Max and Maddy are ready to pick up where their parents left off. In Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery, a Swiss businessman asks for their help in catching a bank robber. But little do the brother-and-sister detectives expect to find themselves hot on the trail of a gang of . . . St. Bernard dogs.
Who can be the dastardly mind behind this evil and cunning plot? The daring duo don their disguises and fly to Switzerland to find out!
Verdict:
As it turns out, I had not missed out on anything by reading the second book because the first one is still mediocre, if not slightly worse. I sort of can hazard why this series was discontinued. Forgettable is all.
April 25, 2023
I expected much better from this author. (His Precious Ramotswe 3 Books Trilogy Set By Alexander McCall Smith (Precious) by Alexander McCall Smith are much better.) Here, it's a rambling type of storytelling, but not in a charming way, and the plot is really far-fetched. The scenes of the dogs being mistreated (albeit nothing too graphic) are likely too much for young animal lovers (my youngest left the room and I skimmed a lot) and seems an odd choice for a book aimed at young sleuths. The only reason I'm giving three stars is that my children thought the final chase scene was hilarious. We started the next book in the series before a mini-vacation and they've already forgotten all about it so you can see it's not that memorable. Not surprised the series didn't last. I say, stick with The Boxcar Children.
September 20, 2020
I like the introduction when it talks about their parent's detective agency. The different ways that one character shows up again and again and again in the story in disguises was interesting. I mixed up "money" and "monkey" when I read it so that had me extra thinking hard. I like how Alexander McCall Smith writes his books, they are all different and he writes in such a good way that it's pretty cool. Things happen differently than you think they're going to happen and I like that. - age 9
April 10, 2018
Next book in the Alexander McCall Smith challenge sees the first of a two part series about two young detectives - all over the top and quite humorous with less mystery and more "Dahlesque" adventure. Fun reading though and should be entertaining for the target market audience.
This one was after his first book in the adult book and now only one more before the ladies detectives come out.
This one was after his first book in the adult book and now only one more before the ladies detectives come out.
August 13, 2017
the book was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
December 26, 2017
A fun chapter book mystery which made my daughter laugh out loud and sit and read for almost an hour straight as she wanted to solve the problem. Excellent writing as usual!
December 14, 2018
Chocolate!!!!!!!!!
March 6, 2019
This shirt book was such a fun audiobook (read by the author himself!) and my boys and I got a kick out of listening to it together!
February 7, 2021
Great children's book.
March 8, 2024
Cute youth adventure read by the author, Alexander McCall Smith. What could be a better pause in your busy day?!
May 4, 2024
A very quick read. A simple mystery 1-3rd graders would enjoy.
March 23, 2025
Man I really want a Swiss Mountain dog!! 🐕
December 18, 2008
We laughed out loud reading this tonight. I'm always looking for early chapter books that are engaging and do not use dumbed-down vocabulary. In my opinion, this book fits the bill. Alexander McCall-Smith writes as well for kids as he does for adults.
The villian is Professor Sardine. He plays mean and nasty tricks like stealing 2000 pairs of underwear, treating them with itching powder and reselling them! Funny to my 9 yo boy!
The villian is Professor Sardine. He plays mean and nasty tricks like stealing 2000 pairs of underwear, treating them with itching powder and reselling them! Funny to my 9 yo boy!
June 18, 2009
Max and Maddy’s parents once were detectives, until the evil Dr. Sardine framed them and forced them to close their business. Now Max and Maddy are solving crimes themselves, a robbery that leads to a racket of St. Bernard dogs!
First of all, the title has nothing to do with the story until the very end. Second, if you listen to this on disk, Alexander McCall Smith does not have a very good reading voice. For a short mystery for kids, stick with the Sherlock Files.
First of all, the title has nothing to do with the story until the very end. Second, if you listen to this on disk, Alexander McCall Smith does not have a very good reading voice. For a short mystery for kids, stick with the Sherlock Files.
April 30, 2011
What was this book about? -- "It was about Max and Maddy and a chocolate money mystery. There was two bank robbers and they stole dogs. They made those dogs bank rob. They found the money."
Why did you like this book? -- "Because it was about private spys and I'm one too."
Is there anything you did not like about this book? -- "Nope, there wasn't anything that I did not like. I liked everything about this book, because that is what I do."
Why did you like this book? -- "Because it was about private spys and I'm one too."
Is there anything you did not like about this book? -- "Nope, there wasn't anything that I did not like. I liked everything about this book, because that is what I do."
May 18, 2012
A crime solving brother and sister! The kids are clever and smart, and truly brave in the face of danger and nasty criminals. Humorous, interesting and nearly believable. (What parents let their kids go solving mysteries in Switzerland unchaperoned?) The characters and plot were well developed and fun, we'll read more Max and Maddy.
August 7, 2012
A good, straight forward 3rd or 4th grade level mystery. The main characters are respectful, don't call each other names, and exhibit logical reasoning. I would recommend this series for kids who's parents want their children to read about characters with traits they can model their behavior after.
May 13, 2010
2nd grade chapter book with a good story--children are hired to solve a mystery involving a bank robbery and a dog--in Switzerland. Exotic location for most 2nd graders, but individual kids will either like learning about somewhere else or they won't.
July 20, 2011
Coming off the success of the Aunts book, we picked up this one at the next library visit. I don't think i appreciated it as much (it wasn't as quirky or creative, in my opinion), but Madeleine was sold for sure. Certainly a book i'd be happy to offer a kid looking for a mystery.
October 6, 2013
A beginning chapter book mystery that will surely find many friends who will hope for more cases to be solved by Max & Maddy. Readers still developing confidence will appreciate the straightforward language that does not overwhelm.
October 20, 2009
This is a kid's chapter book. For the age category, it really should have 3 stars. Cute.
June 17, 2010
Great Book for Second Grade. Alexander McCall Smith has a wonderful way with words that makes me want to read out loud! This will be the first Read-Aloud of the year for my class!
October 18, 2012
MCL. I thought the bank was very nice to Max and Maddy. I like reading mystery stories.
November 18, 2012
Super cute, i think I will read this to my 5 year old.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews