The Purple Heart Detective Agency

by Rock Neelly

“What do wounded warriors do when they return from war missing a leg or two? These tough guys start The Purple Heart Detective Agency. Using battle-tested skills, laughing all the way, when others have turned their backs, these sleuths solve mysteries. Rock Neelly’s novel is easy to pick-up, hard to put down.”
- Robert Beattie, author of Nightmare in Hunt for the BTK Strangler

“Rock Neelly hands the reader well-defined, believable characters, caught up in a deft blend of old-school detective noir and modern technology.”
- Brian Dobbins, author of The Witch’s Cartel and Corryville


The sudden disappearance of a magician isn’t usually cause for alarm, but it’s a different story when the disappearance isn’t part of the act.

Clay and Roddy are two war veterans – both amputees - trying to rebuild their shattered lives through their struggling Purple Heart Detective Agency. Then the beautiful Angela Thayer enters the picture, asking for their help in finding her missing friend and employer, Trevor Baker – stage name, Merlyn the Magician. The high profile case promises to jumpstart their careers…until the search leads to betrayal, intrigue and mind control. And then the murders begin...

A hard-boiled detective story of murder and mayhem, a war story of pathos and survival, an action story of intrigue and violence, a love story of abandon and betrayal, a stick in the eye of the entertainment industry, wry social commentary on how America treats its veterans of war, but mostly a rousing tale of brotherhood in war and beyond.

And of course, a foul-mouthed monkey named Jerry.

292 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2015

About the author

Tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I was born and raised in Kansas, the grandson of two ranchers. My parents were both from the first generation of their families to attend college and they both became teachers.
My mother is a painter and an artist, but also taught language arts and literature and although my father is a great reader, it from dear ole Mom that I developed my love of literature. She got me to read early and often and I read everything – crazy stuff, Alexandre Dumas novels that our library didn’t even have, not The Three Musketeers or The Man in the Iron Mask, although I read those, of course, but the two sequels to Musketeers, and much more obscure stuff, The Son of the Phantom by Lee Falk, Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and westerns by Louis L’Amour. But I wasn’t a total nerd. I lettered in basketball and golf in high school. Not college level material, although my father still holds the scoring record in Kansas for 1A basketball in the state finals, 49 points, I think. He could play, and was a college and professional official back in the day.
I have a great brother and sister, both back in Kansas, and a wonderful extended family. My wife Vicki is the glue of the household, and my step-children and grandchildren keep us all busy.

Reviews

[Majanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/book-tou...

The Purple Heart Detective Agency was not at all what I expected. Clay and Roddy, our two main characters, have started the Purple Heart Detective Agency as a way to rebuild their shattered lives. Both of them are war veterans and amputees. The agency is their way to cope with what happened to them. But then Angela Thayer shows up, a beautiful woman, who seeks their help in finding her friend and employer – a magician who disappeared, and no, it wasn’t part of the act. Merlyn the Magician is a high-profile case, and might just save the careers of Clay and Roddy. But when a string of murders start, they realize more is at stake than just their careers.

The book offers so many interesting perspectives and stories, and touches upon a lot of intriguing subjects – like even how war veterans are treated, how the entertainment industry works, and about the band between brothers, a band forged in war, but that never really goes away. It’s a hard-boiled crime novel, but it also has its lighter moments. Both Clay and Roddy bring interesting personalities to the table, and each of them has a lot to offer. The writing is fluent and easily transports the reader into the setting and story.

If you like detective stories, you should definitely give this book a chance. And even if hard-boiled isn’t usually your cup of tea, the book has enough merits to give it a shot either way.

[RyooT · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a tour-de-force. Really enjoyed the characters, the way the story unfolded, the fast pace; Now I only hope there will be a sequel about Clay and Roddy (as well as RoBo and Penny)!

[Judie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Members of the military during wartime learn how to kill. Some of them are killed in return. Others, however, are seriously injured and return home and expected to return to normal civilian life. Not all are able to do so.
Clay Grace returned from Iraq missing a leg. His friend, Rod was missing both of his. Using their talents, they opened The Purple Heart Detective Agency and hired other wounded veterans whom they knew to help them at times.
Clay was hired by Angela, a rich, beautiful woman, to help locate her missing boss, a famous magician who had disappeared rather suddenly. Their hunt for him led them to locations in California and Las Vegas and into situations they hadn’t anticipated. The story also interweaves their experiences in Iraq.
Their search revealed questionable real estate deals, an old notebook written by psychic Ed Cayce, information about phantom limb pain, and a medical project with unexpected consequences. It also led them to several unusual deaths within a small circle of acquaintances.
While it starts our somewhat ploddingly, THE PURPLE HEART DETECTIVE AGENCY becomes very fast-paced as it moves. The trite similes and metaphors present early on disappear as the plot builds. Some of the situations seem impossible, but they do make for interesting reading.
I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

[Sue Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roddy O'Malley and Clayton Grace, were both seriously injured during a tour of Iraq. Both amputees, they set themselves up as The Purple Heart Detective Agency. They are called in to find a missing person - an illusionist, who must appear soon for a show at a Vegas casino, or else forfeit a large fee. Trevor Baker, stage name Merlin the Magician, has been missing for more than two weeks, intensely worrying because of the timing, albeit something he has done before.

Trevor/Merlin has mind-reading abilities which seem more than the usual stage illusions. Why?

Roddy and Clayton investigate, and find the answers to this and other questions. Thanks to their activities, their lives are put in danger time and again.

A tense, exciting thriller - highly recommended

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some parts of this book will be difficult to read as it exposes some of the horrors of war that most people don’t want to know about, but overall the books message is positive. I am especially happy to recommend the book knowing that part of the proceeds are going to the DAV, Disabled American Veterans group. I am always happy to support those who allow me to live the life I live and protect America.

This is an interesting read. I enjoyed the mystery part of the story, and while I didn’t enjoy it reading about the war was also important to me. It is something I think everyone needs to remember and this is a gentle way to do so.

I give this book 5 out of 5 clouds and recommend everyone buy it, even if it is only to support our troops

[Gail Ofterdinger-Ledgister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two Iraqi war veterans with missing limbs find themselves unemployable upon returning to the states. They start a detective agency in California but business is not booming until a magician's beautiful stage assistant walks in to report her magician has vanished. In real life, not just in their act. The reader is swept up in the intrigue of an evil drug company that is conducting experiments on phantom limb pain. This is a very quick read with non-stop action and intrigue. My thanks to the author and LibraryThing for a complimentary copy of this book.

[Domenickoh Micheli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neat Story, lots of action. The story moves quickly. Nice to see a story about wounded vets making a difference in the world. Clay Gracer, Roddy O'malley and others in their platton were injured in Iraq and lost limbs due to their wounds. Clay was a cop but couldn't get back on the force so he started the Purple Heart Detective Agency. He and Roddy worked together in the agency. They were hired by Angie to find Trevor the Magician. Trevor was able to control people because of some pills which enabled him to get into the minds of others. Interesting concept.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! One that will give you a little bit of everything in the mystery reading area. Hard to put down once you start! Well written! Story plot well thought out! An all around awesome book!!


*Received for an honest review*

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a good book. It told a good story, kept my interest, and was fun too. Really liked it.

[Jim Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rock Neelly is a masterful writer! His suspense novel, The Purple Heart Detective Agency, is a complex, riveting read.
I’m glad Neelly is a writer and not a criminal, because with his gift for planning and detail I’m not sure he would ever be caught!
In thinking about Neelly’s thinking, I’m come up with a theory: For fun, “Little-Rock” must have grown up playing with Rubix’s Cubes.
Before I read this novel I said, “I don’t read suspense novels.” Now I do. What a story!
--Jim Potter, author of Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery

[J.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of really great things about this "modern noir" book, which is why I kept reading until the very end. I picked it up primarily because of the disabled main characters, which is a diversity not often seen in fiction. While their combat injuries certainly informed their characters, neither men were ever defined by them. The best scenes were Clay in modern day, because his narrative voice very much evoked the old-fashioned hard-boiled detective without becoming overwhelming or dropping into cliche.

Unfortunately, this book suffered from trying to incorporate too much. The current-day plot and drama were solid without having to continuously drop us back into the flashbacks of how Clay and Roddy were injured overseas. In particular, this made the ending drag on when I really wanted to find out how things ended up in the here and now. Though the two stories correlated thematically, the "origin story" aspect of it was unnecessary. I already cared about the two men for who they were now.

The true villain of the story was a muddy issue, which emphasized the noir aspects of this novel. In the end, nobody was a "good guy," because even all of the good guys had blood on their hands. I really enjoyed the dichotomy of all of this happening in sunny California rather than a more typical dark atmospheric location like New York or Chicago.

The "speculative fiction" elements of this plot could have been more emphasized or left out altogether. I'm still not sure what to think of the whole mind control thing even after the fact. In addition, the treatment of women (both as written characters and by men in the story) was also typical to what might be expected in old-fashioned noir tales, whereas I've started to expect more from modern authors.

Readers of thrillers, modern crime, old-school noir, and war stories will probably all be more forgiving of this novel than I am. Despite my critiques, I genuinely wanted to see Clay and Roddy come out on top and get their happy endings, and the ending more than satisfied on all accounts.

[Verushka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I knew what this book was trying to be. There’s a storyline involving a touch of “powers” and another involving a more straightforward mystery/search for a missing man, but while the two are supposed to mesh, they didn’t.
For me, this was a stronger mystery, a search for a magician by two men battling demons themselves. Clay and Roddy are veterans, and both returned from the war as amputees. What attracted me to this story, was that the blurb offered a character-driven tale, entwined with a mystery. I didn’t need to know as much as the book offered me about their pasts in the army – that didn’t matter to me as much as their present and who they were now.
The story lost a lot of steam for me as it progressed. I wanted more of Roddy and Clay investigating, of them telling us about their past and not having to read about it in flashbacks. I didn’t quite understand why there was such a focus on Clay and Angela, given he’s firmly, irrevocably not her type. And the pills and “powers” bit stuck out like a sore thumb in what was otherwise a strong mystery.

[Lonni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book club book, someone's cousin wrote this, not my usual genre. It is a book about 2 war vets who start a detective agency. It is a really interesting idea behind it. The 2 vets both have lost limbs and they are searching for a magician who is involved with a drug for phantom limb pain. I found the medical side interesting (not very in-depth, but that an interesting concept). I liked the book, but there was a lot of F-bombs dropped and I skimmed over some of the more violent scenes. A lot of different twists in the end. IT was really cool being able to speak with the author and hearing how he came up with the idea and the writing process.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much time information about the war and guns not enough detecting for me.