Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Big Mojo by Jack Getze | Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway


The Blurb

Wall Street’s miasmal garbage washes up on the Jersey Shore when a small time broker falls in love: Is he attracted to the beautiful lady — or her brother’s inside information?

Held spellbound by a steamy, auburn-haired woman with a dubious past and a get-rich-quick, insider trading scheme, Austin Carr knocks down a beehive of bad-acting Bonacellis, including the ill-tempered “Mr. Vic” Bonacelli, who wants his redhead back, and local mob lieutenant Angelina “Mama Bones” Bonacelli, architect of a strange and excruciating death trap for the fast-talking stockbroker she calls smarty pants.

To survive, Austin must unravel threads of jealousy, revenge and new affections, discover the fate of a pseudo ruby called the Big Mojo and slam the lid on a pending United States of America vs. Austin Carr insider trading case. Can Austin and his Jersey Shore mouthpiece possibly out maneuver the savvy U.S. District Attorney from Manhattan? Will anything matter for Austin ever again if Mama Bones flips that switch?
“Gordon Gekko meets Janet Evanovich in this wry and winning caper — Jack Getze does it again!”  — Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award winning author of Truth Be Told

Big Mojo by Jack Getze
Series: Austin Carr Mysteries, #3
Genre: Screwball Mystery
Publication Date: September 17, 2014
Paperback: 176 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1937495763
E-Book File Size: 1004 KB
ASIN: B00N8IHOOQ

The Review


I read an amazing book recently, y'all! Let me tell you a little about it.

Big Mojo, a screwball mystery, is the third book in the Austin Carr Mysteries by Jack Getze. The previous books in the series (Big Numbers, reviewed here) and (Big Money, reviewed here) are really good, really fun reads (Four Kitties!). Big Mojo is the best one yet! 

[NOTE: It's not crucial that you read these books in order, but to really appreciate the full development of Austin Carr's character, and to know the back-story of the other returning characters, I recommend doing so.]

Yes, Austin's back, irrepressible as ever, with his "Austin Carr Gift of Gab" and his "full-boat Carr grin." It turns out that the full-boat Carr grin is hereditary. His teenage daughter Beth has begun using the family grin on her father — watch out, Austin!

Big Money, Book 2, ends with an interesting development at the Jer­sey Shore bro­ker-dealer se­cu­ri­ties com­pany, founded by Vic Bonacelli, where Austin works. In Big Mojo, Mr Vic and his mother, Mama Bones, are primarily concerned with rectifying that development. I love how these two really get their comeuppance! I won't reveal any spoilers, but suffice it to say that I finished reading Big Mojo with a full-boat grin of my own!

Here are some of my favorite passages, to illustrate the Carr gift of gab as well as Author Jack Getze's way with words:


 This woman keeps sur­pris­ing me, say­ing things that change the land­scape. I don’t like hear­ing about Pa­tri­cia and Mr. Vic. I don’t like to think about her and an­other man. When did I get like this? I hardly know this woman.

 Mama Bones loves the new of­fice part of her base­ment kitchen — sit­ting at a desk be­hind a door she can lock — but she hates using the stu­pid com­puter. She can’t fig­ure out the darn thing. Like what is a spread­sheet. Sounds like dirty laun­dry at a sex motel. Mama Bones has been writ­ing down her weekly bet to­tals on a piece of paper for twenty-seven years.

 Did he think I am com­pletely help­less? That I’d freeze like some...​stockbro­ker? The man failed to un­der­stand how the growl­ing mon­sters we face each day —

 Luis hands me a short-bar­rel re­volver that was in that bag of other good­ies on the beach. A Smith & Wes­son. Thirty-eight cal­iber, snub-nose, I think they call these pup­pies. “If Var­gas is here, it is likely that he and I will fight,” Luis says. “Use this re­volver only if he kills me.”
Now there’s an un­pleas­ant thought. Luis’ death. I glance at the Smith & Wes­son. Not my weapon of choice, of course, but in some sit­u­a­tions, the Carr gift of gab be­comes in­op­er­a­ble. Var­gas rush­ing at me with a switch­blade the size of Brook­lyn might fall into that cat­e­gory.
“You got it,” I say. “I’ll do it.”
I’ve al­ready turned this night over to Luis. I’m not going to argue how he plans the bat­tle. The king of Stock­bro­ker Spe­cial-Ops is still just a stock­bro­ker. Luis is Luis.

● Rags points at me with his weapon. “Find his gun.”
I reach in­side the cop’s coat. I’ve been dying to check the brand of his suit any­way. Nice blue suits are the main­stay of every stock­bro­ker’s wardrobe. Kind of like the young sin­gle woman’s lit­tle black dress.


I hope these mini-excerpts give you a sense of Austin's screwball humor, even in the face of danger, and of the suspense and action to be found in Big Mojo. It's definitely a page-turner. I didn't want to put it down. Big Mojo is a fantastic read, one that I highly recommend, and one that has earned the highest honor of Five Kitties!



Note:  I  received a complimentary copy of Big Mojo from the author and Great Escapes Book Tours, in exchange for an honest opinion of the book.




The Author

About Jack Getze

Former Los Angeles Times reporter Jack Getze is Fiction Editor for Anthony nominated Spinetingler Magazine, one of the internet’s oldest websites for noir, crime, and horror short stories. Through the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Syndicate, his news and feature stories were published in over five-hundred newspapers and periodicals worldwide. 

His two screwball mysteries, BIG NUMBERS and BIG MONEY, are being reissued by DOWN & OUT BOOKS, with the new BIG MOJO to follow. His short stories have appeared in A Twist of Noir and Beat to a Pulp. Getze is an Active Member of Mystery Writers of America’s New York Chapter.


Find him on the web at



The Giveaway

Jack will award an e-book of Big Mojo to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.




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