Missing Persons #4 Unsuspecting Gourmet

Sophie knows that she's made a big mistake, when she accidentally lets her mother's famous matzo ball soup recipe to Wilda Higgins, the owner of the Petal Diner. After all, she and her sister - Sam - are known to the town of Venice, Indiana as two Christian girls whose parents were killed in a car accident, not two Jewish girls who ran away from Queens, New York with their evil stepmother's money. However, Wilda quickly adds some Midwestern touches to make the recipe her own, then enters it into a contest. However, when Wilda wins, and is chosen to appear on Griffin Gateaux's cable television cooking show, she invites Sophie to join her on-screen. Now, Sam must figure out a way to prevent Sophie's face from being plastered all over the media, or their covers will definitely be blown. But that's the least of their worries, for Wilda and Griffin quickly disappear while touring local dairy farms, and now it's up to Sophie and Sam, along with their Private Investigator boss, the gruff Gus, to find Wilda and Griffin before they're both...expired. With so few mystery series on the market for teens nowadays, it's wonderful to have the opportunity to pick up one of M.E. Rabb's books, and enter the small town of Venice, solving missing persons cases. Rabb has a talent of creating interesting, out-of-the-ordinary problems for the Shattenberg sisters, that keep readers guessing from first page to last. THE UNSUSPECTING GOURMET is no exception. Sophie and Sam are quirky, and fun to read about; and the adventures they encounter in the bizarro Venice, Indiana leave readers laughing, and dying for a slice of Wilda's famous pie. An interesting, funny, trendy NANCY DREW-type series that will please mystery readers of all ages. My only qualm is that it appears that this series has been discontinued. Erika Sorocco Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper