The Greek Who Stole Christmas

The Greek Who Stole Christmas is a short Diamond Brothers story by Anthony Horowitz, first published in 2007. It tells the tale of the two Diamond brothers meeting a fictional pop star who is only referred to as "Minerva". It features an increased amount of the comedy from the other books and all of the usual work with homonyms. The title itself is a reference to The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, a story by Dr. Seuss.

Plot summary

Christmas is fast approaching and once again Tim Diamond and his younger brother Nick are flat broke. So when they are hired to investigate an anonymous death threat made to world-famous Greek pop singer and movie actress Minerva, they jump at the chance.

At a meeting at her hotel, they learn that the death threat may have something to do with a cancelled concert that was meant to benefit a society called Overweight Albanian Kids (OAK). Minerva's husband, Harold Chase, is especially worried since Minerva will be appearing in public the following day, having been booked to turn on the Regent Street Christmas lights. A box of crackers is sent to the room with a death threat inside. Tim and Nick are shocked to hear that Minerva hates Christmas and everything about it, but agree to be at the event to protect her.

At Regent Street the next day, someone fires two shots. In the ensuing commotion, Tim accidentally turns on the lights, spoiling the ceremony. However, now that they are on, Harold easily spots someone on one of the rooftops, holding what looks like a gun. Nick rushes to the rooftop via the store below, but only hears the supposed assassin say "I d-d-didn't..." before he runs away. Chase fires Tim.

The next day, the brothers hear that a man called Reginald Parker has been murdered, and Tim's card was found next to the body. Nick recognises him as the man on the roof. Nick realises that Minerva is still in danger and rushes Tim to Harrods, where she is due to appear. When they get there, they find Minerva with an unopened present that the department store Santa gave her. Nick tells her it is a bomb, and passing Chief Inspector Snape proves him right. The group go inside the grotto, where Nick reveals the Santa that gave her the bomb is Chase, her husband.

Then Nick explains that Chase wanted to kill Minerva due to her hatred of Christmas. He faked the death threat and to avoid suspicion, hired a private detective (Tim), while at the same time making sure that he was dumb and half-witted. Then, he paid Parker to go up on the rooftops, but fired some blanks from his pocket. Then, he killed Parker since he knew he was working as the Harrods Santa, Nick realises Tim's card fell out of his pocket during the fight. He took his place, and began waiting till Minerva would visit, then he would give her the bomb.

In the end, Nick and Tim get paid ten thousand pounds, and buy plane tickets to Australia so they can visit their parents.