The Diamond Brothers

The Diamond Brothers is a series of humorous children's detective books by Anthony Horowitz, the first of which was published in 1986. The books tell the adventures of the world's worst private detective, Tim Diamond, and his younger brother, Nick Diamond, who is considerably more intelligent. These books are aimed at young teenagers, slightly younger than those aimed at with the more recent Alex Rider series. However, both series star a teenage boy and include guns, fights and world-wide criminals. The most notable difference is that The Diamond Brothers series contains much more humour, with many puns, pop culture references and absurd situations. Although the books started in the late 80s and have continued into the millennium, Nick and Tim remain roughly the same age (14 and 28 respectively), while London changes with the times (the newer books feature Oyster Cards and computers for example, whereas the older books feature parts of London that have long since changed, such as smoking in offices). The entire series was re-issued in 2007 with new covers.