What is Tammy Kaehler reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Tammy Kaehler, author of Braking Points.

Her entry begins:

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...[read on]

About Braking Points, from the publisher:

Kate Reilly can’t remember a worse time in her life, on-track or off. She wrecks her race car at Road America in Wisconsin, sending a visiting NASCAR star to the hospital, and loses her cool on-camera, only to end the day by discovering her boyfriend with a friend of hers. A dead friend.

With little time to grieve, Kate finds herself the pariah of the racing world, the target of vicious e-mail messages, death threats, and a frenzy of blame on racing sites and blogs, including an influential, anonymous blogger who’s trying to get her fired. But nothing is as bad as knowing her friend’s killer is still out there—and aiming at Kate.

She’s riding a roller coaster of emotion, juggling an exciting new sponsor, a boyfriend she’s not sure she can trust, and new-found family she doesn’t want to claim. Dodging unfavorable media attention and a pit reporter with a bias against women in racing, Kate redeems herself by delivering stunning performances behind the wheel at the next race: Petit Le Mans, the ten-hour endurance classic.

The championship race weekend and an undercurrent of threats on all sides rev Kate’s nerves to their limits. From on-track action, to sponsor parties, to the Series awards banquet, she’s part of the action, uncovering motives, secrets, and powerful ambitions. Ultimately she learns no one can escape the past—but only a murderer is driven by it.

Learn more about the book and author at 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.

Writers Read: Tammy Kaehler.

--Marshal Zeringue