The Trouble with Diamonds

by Scott Corbett

Tackling and then sitting on top of your boss is hardly the way to begin a new job. But how was Jeff to know that the chubby prowler was Ambrose Bunker, owner of the Westham Inn where Jeff applied for work? Fortunately, Bunker — embarrassed by being caught ransacking a guest's room — is willing to forgive and forget. Besides, he's got bigger problems. A great mystery buff, Bunker is convinced there's trouble afoot and enlists Jeff to help protect a priceless diamond necklace from a bevy of suspicious characters.
Jeff's job turns into a rollicking comedy of errors in amateur sleuthing — complete with mistaken identities, muddled motives, and crazy chase scenes.
Fans of Scott Corbett's fast, funny fiction will breeze through this wild and wacky whodunit, laughing all the way.

100 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1985

About the author

Scott Corbett (July 27, 1913 – March 6, 2006) was an American novelist and educator. He wrote five adult novels, the first published in 1950, and then began writing books for children. He retired from teaching in 1965 to write full-time. His best known book is The Lemonade Trick, a children's novel.

Reviews

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the copyright page of this book the following paragraph is found:

The text of this book is a considerably revised version of Diamonds are Trouble by Scott Corbett, published in 1967 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Scott Corbett being my favorite author, I had to see what changes were made from the original book, so I read both books back to back.
While the plot line and cast of characters are the same, it is interesting the changes made to the characters. Jeff is now a teen-ager and not 22 years old, as such he doesn't serve alcohol to the guests of the inn. Some items are added, like a trip into town that wasn't in the book, with some other items taken out, like how Jeff got to the inn from Vermont to begin with. The major change that was made was regarding Ambrose Bunker, the proprietor of the Westham Inn. He is now a mystery buff and fancies himself a detective, but isn't very good at it. He makes poor assumptions in the revised version that wasn't there in the original story.
I liked the original best, but maybe only because that is the one I first read when I was a youngster. Had this been the only version available most likely I would have enjoyed it just as much. As it is though, I'll stick to the original.