Brad has not been back in the city since he left the police force and still has mixed feelings about his new life.  He loves living in the Shenandoah Valley with his wife (as empty nesters) and creating new teddy bears, but a part of him longs for the excitement of being a San Francisco police officer.   

At the park before the show opens, teddy bear artist Lauren Vandenbosch is attacked and robbed by someone in a teddy bear suit.  That night while dining with former partner Gregg Mauel and his wife, Brad gets caught up in a homicide scene where a robotic teddy bear is found, along with the teddy bear costume and an unknown victim. 

Brad and Ashleigh are quickly hired as expert consultants (a little bit unbelievable) and realize that Lauren’s son Kyle is the creator of the robotic teddy bear and is wanted by the computer game company for whom he works for stealing the bear.  The plot gets very complicated from here as to who was hired to steal the bear from whom, was the bear created on company time, from whom is Kyle really on the lam from and did his mother pass along some creative teddy bear gene to Kyle or is she somehow mixed up in all of this?

Turning a semi-working vacation into a dangerous vacation, Brad and Ashleigh follow leads and sort out the messy business of teddy bear design before they get a surprise announcement from Heather, one that is likely to change all of their lives.

  The Clockwork Teddy is one of the best books in this series so far.  Brad is in his element in San Francisco and even visits the site of his career ending injury, finally giving him some closure.  Brad was a good cop and has remained a good investigator and has passed along some of his skills to Ashleigh who has been able to add her own twist.  Once readers get past the fact that Brad and Ashleigh are so quickly accepted as official department consultants, the rest of the plot unfolds easily and quickly.  Some readers may guess what is happening, but there are enough twists and turns to keep up the tension and interest. 

In the end, Brand and Ashleigh have been glad to visit San Francisco, but know there’s no place like home, which is now Virginia, and are very anxious to return home where there are no doubt more bodies waiting for them to happen upon.                                        

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry