The Clockwork Teddy

Title: The Clockwork Teddy

Author: John J. Lamb

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Copyright Date: 2008

Print Date: October 2008

ISBN: 9780425224298

Pages: 269 + Teddy Bear Artisan Profile

Series: 4th of the Bear Collector's Mysteries

Book Description (from back cover):

Retired San Francisco cop Brad Lyon and his wife, Ashleigh, have been settling into a comfortable life in the Shenandoah Valley, collecting and creating adorable teddy bears. But when they take a return trip to California, things suddenly turn ugly...

Sometines you shouldn't go home again. When Brad and Ashleigh Lyon return to San Francisco for the first time since they moved to Virginia, they're looking forward to catching up with friends and family. But instead, they witness a robbery at a teddy bear show — and then, when a cutting-edge robot teddy bear is found at a murder scene, Brad's former partner enlists the bear-making couple as fur-ensic experts.

At least the investigation will give them the opportunity to spend more time with their daughter, Heather, an undercover detective on the force. But as Brad and Ash unravel the myster, they run the risk of coming to a grizzly end...

Comments:

I was so glad to finally meet the Lyons' daughter and only wished I could have met the son. Maybe sometime soon. This book also showed some other (non-relative) relationships (i.e. Brad and his former SFPD partner, Brad and a distateful acquaintance, etc.). I enjoyed this glimse into their (the Lyons) various relationships. The teddy involved sounded pretty cool. I'm looking forward to getting ahold of and reading the next in the series, The Treacherous Teddy.

I do want to add, I really hope acronym FUBAR isn't defined again in the next book and all future books (UPDATE: It's my understanding that the 5th book is also the last.  From what I gather, they weren't selling well enough.).  The way it's defined in the book draws so much attention to it that it's almost worse than if he out-and-out said the word he's alluding to.