Tammy Kaehler

Tammy Kaehler’s career in marketing and technical writing landed her in the world of automobile racing, which inspired her with its blend of drama, competition, and welcoming people. Her debut, Dead Man’s Switch, was praised by mystery fans as well as racing insiders, and she takes readers back behind the wheel in Braking Points, the newly released second Kate Reilly Racing Mystery.

A couple of weeks ago I asked Kaehler about what she was reading.  Her reply:

One unexpected consequence of making the rounds of mystery conventions each year as a published author is buying and reading a whole lot more books. (If you ask my husband, that’s not actually possible, given how many books I buy, own, and read each month.) Since my return from the Left Coast Crime mystery convention at the end of March, I’ve been reading a bunch of great books written by authors who I saw or met for the first time there.

I’m just finishing Blood, Ash & Bone, by Tina Whittle, a fellow author at Poisoned Pen Press. This is the third book in the Tai Randolph series, and I am really enjoying it. Partly I love it because I adore how conflicted and yet confident and collected Whittle’s protagonist Tai is—“conflicted” seems the only appropriate response for a liberal feminist who inherits a confederate-themed gun store in a city that requires citizens to own guns. And partly I appreciate the story because Whittle gives outsiders a tour of the South’s own conflicted psyche by tackling the role of the Klan and the ongoing legacy of the Civil War in the modern-day world.

Just as soon as I finish that book, I’m going to pick up Termination Orders, by Leo J. Maloney. It’s going to be a bit darker and more suspenseful than my usual reading list, but I met Maloney at the convention and found him to be a friendly, outgoing, and funny guy. He’s got the greatest platform I’ve ever heard of for writing thrillers about a former undercover operative for the CIA—he was one. I’m not sure how much of the book is fiction and how much is real, but I’m fascinated to read his work.

You never know what you’ll find in the crime fiction arena—everything from cozy mysteries with cats and recipes to trained assassins completing assignments for the good of the country … but I’m pretty sure my TBR (to be read) pile has them all!

Visit Tammy Kaehler's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Man’s Switch.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Man's Switch.

Writers Read: Tammy Kaehler (August 2011).

The Page 69 Test: Braking Points.

--Marshal Zeringue