This is book 2 in the Gadgets and Gears series by Kersten Hamilton. In bits and pieces the reader, who has not read book 1, finds out that Iron Claw is a pigeon with an eye that can mesmerize people into doing its bidding and is a member of an evil organization- the Mesmers. The story is being retold by Noodles, the dachshund, the pet of Walter Kennewickett, aka Wally. Wally’s parents- Oliver and Calypso are scientists and Wally is a scientist-in-training. Oliver and Calypso are working for President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) to help save the world. Wally’s parents run the Automated Inn for Oliver’s brother, the family paterfamilias. Noodles uses quite a few ‘BIG’ words like this one and always explains them for the reader, much like in the Lemony Snickett series. The Automated Inn uses what we today might call robots to run the inn. Some of the robots / automatons are extremely human in appearance and dress, while others are not. So begins this mix of historical fiction and science fiction.

The Automated Inn is holding their annual OPEN HOUSE. The local towns folk get to see the new inventions and have a wonderful meal. But this year the OPEN HOUSE is interrupted by an incognito appearance by Iron Claw and Madini of the Mesmers. It turns out they want Nikola Tesla who is working, at his friends Automated Inn, on how to make wireless electrical charging possible. This would be very bad for Thomas Edison’s and Westinghouse’s power companies because Tesla wants to make the power available to everyone for free. The Kennewicketts discover the Mesmer’s plot shortly after Wally’s Human Kite demonstration explodes.  This sets into motion a trip to Italy to save Oliver’s brother from the Mesmers.  The Kennewicketts are flying to Europe in their air vessel, the Daedalus. while avoiding getting Tesla captured by air pirates along the way. ”  ‘ We will save the world by doing what we do best,’ Wally guessed. ‘ Creating and employing technology.’  ” (85) Once in Europe, Oliver and Calypso are mesmerized along with Oliver’s brother, but Wally, Noodles, and the automatons successfully outsmart Iron Claw to save the day.

The Author’s Note states, after the Epilogue, “Nikola Tesla, the ‘Wizard of the West’ who helped the Kennewicketts in this story, was real, though his adventures and some of the inventions in this book are fictional. The ‘war of the currents’ was real too, and Tesla did discover the alternating current that we all use in our homes today… If you’d like to know more about the science and history in The Ire of Iron Claw, or want to exercise you imagination ramp up your research, and polish your problem-solving skills… www.hmhco.com/shop/books/The-Ire-of-Iron-Claw/9780544225022.”   (163-165)