Some people claim that they can read palms; others claim that they can read tea leaves and tell your fortune and future, but Madam Chocolata can read the marshmallows in your hot chocolate to tell your fortune. At least that is what she and Toby claim while running their hot chocolate tent. In Nancy Drew and The Clue Crew: Case of the Sneaky Snowman by Carolyn Keene, Nancy, Bess and George find themselves on a very strange case involving a fortune teller, a snowman who comes to life and fortunes that mysteriously keep coming true.

Deirdre and her friend Toby have decided to set up a hot chocolate tent and are charging a $1 a cup. With your purchase Deirdre (now known as Madam Chocolata) will tell you your future as she watches your marshmallows align in your hot cup of cocoa. Nancy is promised a pizza for dinner and George is promised a new computerized watch and is informed that the girls’ snowman, Sherlock is going to be going on a long, long journey. Bess thinks that the whole thing is silly and just wants her hot chocolate. Her fortune leaves her unsettled when she hears Madam Chocolata predict her falling in an ice show in front of everyone and being laughed at.

Nancy knows that the whole thing is a joke and Deirdre can’t really tell the future. That is until at dinner time there is a ring at her door for a pizza delivery. The next day she meets up with her friends and George has gotten the new watch she wanted. How could Deirdre have predicted these things to happen? Something is up and they want to know what is really going on. Bess is stressed out over her fortune because she is going to be in an ice show and is ready to quit if it means avoiding the embarrassment predicted. But fortune tellers aren’t real and Nancy is going to prove it.

The three girls head over to Sherlock to prove to Bess that Deirdre is not a fortune teller. Snowmen cannot come to life and walk away. If Deirdre was a fortune teller, then their snowman would have to come to life and that is not going to happen. When they get to the spot that they built Sherlock he’s not there. The only thing in its place is prints in the snow left by the boots that they used to dress the snowman with. The Clue Crew is now on the case and is going to get to the bottom of the missing snowman and phony fortune teller.