NEW BOOK REVIEW

                  

                                                Christian Cozy Mystery


Action Men with Silly Putty: A Jack Donegal Mystery (Jack Donegal Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition ... by Susan Joy Clark


 Jack Donegal is an engineer, toy inventor and the head of his own toy company but not a detective until he stumbles into a strange situation. While on a business trip, he stops to purchase a 1914 teddy bear at an estate auction. While still on the auction grounds, armed thugs, who mistake him for a Dalton Starks, seem to think he’s in possession of something they want. Although police rescue him from his first encounter with criminals, Jack and Andy Westin, his marketing manager, roommate and friend, begin to think there’s something special about this teddy bear to make it interesting to criminals. They engage in a cat and mouse hunt with various members of the criminal world, but who are the cats and who are the mice? With the help of their combined wits and various technical gadgetry including toy parts and prototypes, Jack and Andy help bring several criminals to justice. With two personalities like those of Jack and Andy, there is bound to be some silliness along the way in this comedy mystery.

Our Review  

I have to say that I love Cozy Mysteries and when I picked up Action Men with Silly Putty: A Jack Donegal Mystery by Susan Joy Clark I was in for a wonderful surprise! This book was more than just a cozy mystery, I felt the author has opened up a new mystery genre with the pairing of guy pals in place of a young adventurous women falling into trouble.

To set the tone of this insanely crazy, but plausible mystery, let me just give you a brief "feeling" of the two main characters...Jack, owner and founder of the Out of the Box Toy Design, a cross between  Mr. Gadget and a brilliant and loveable Maxwell Smart. Jack has the most incredible gadgets and what nots in every pocket, which in this mystery comes in very handy. His manner of dress is edgy cartoon style, which fits his borderline genius personality. Very retro, very svelte.

Side kick, marketing manager, and best friend Andy Westin completes the duo. The combination of these two make for outrages and quirky dialog no matter what event is happening. 

As they stumble upon a mystery that just has to be solved, their adventure just takes on one hilarious turn after another, as they confide in their gal pals who in turn can dish out whatever the guys give, which adds a touch of delightful and fun romantic tension.

I must say I enjoyed the Boot and Scoot chapter and actually laughed out loud while the guys were still getting deeper in the midst of solving the crime, but inadvertently had a Western fun night, complete with  mechanical bull riding, Line Dancing and possibly meeting girls.

Just a teaser from the dance as Andy met his cowgirl ... "Are you here with a partner?" she asked. "Oh I'm alone, I came here with a friend, a male friend...but he's not a partner." Somehow, I felt stupid for the need to explain this. "He may be my pardner as in," I tried my best Southern drawl, "Howdy Pardner! and, we work together, but aside from that, he is not any kind of partner." I realized I was babbling idiotically and possibly blushing. Luckily, my cute cowgirl stayed put.

Honestly, I wish I could just keep on giving excerpts, as this story has so much life to it...every page has current or retro facts that I could relate to and yet many new amazingly interesting new ones. I've even repeated some to my family just to share how smart I got after reading this book.

Linda    

So, to sum up this wild and crazy mystery, I will say the antics of the characters are the endearing draw of this story, as the author pulls out every bell and whistle that will carry you from page to page, and then...the mystery is solved and you are still wanting to know what will these guys get into next!
                
     Amazon Review