Kate Reilly Mystery

"Kaehler's clear explanations of technical jargon make the racing world come alive. An engaging debut; I can't wait to see where Kate and the crew go next." -Library Journal Aspiring race car driver Kate Reilly goes looking for a full-time ride in the American Le Mans Series-and stumbles over a dead driver. When she takes that driver's job just hours later, she also takes pole position on the list of suspects in his murder. Suddenly she's in the hot seat with little time to clear her name and get ready to race a Corvette at Lime Rock Park. Amid suspicion, Kate buckles down, quickly getting to know the race car and team, bumping into plenty of suspects who might have committed murder. Clues fly at her as fast as the turns on the track, including a cryptic list of blackmail victims, unexplainable car performance at racing speed, a jealous husband with an adulterous wife, and drivers and crew who are openly happy her predecessor is dead. Kate finds exhilaration and hazards exist on- and off-track as she throttles up both the Corvette's V8 and a murder investigation. The green-flag countdown ticks away, and Kate must decide who she can trust to help probe alibis, untangle rumors of team breakups and personal betrayals, and determine whose drive to win also constitutes a willingness to kill. Because what's at stake in Kate's race to the truth is her career … only by uncovering a murderer can Kate restore her reputation and prove she belongs in the racing world. Kate Reilly Mysteries: Dead Man's Switch (Book 1) Braking Points (Book 2) Avoidable Contact (Book 3) Red Flags (Book 4) Kiss the Bricks (Book 5) Praise for the Kate Reilly Mysteries: "Read this book-but buckle in first. Believe me, you're in for a bumpy ride." -WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER, New York Times bestselling author for Braking Points "This series always leaves me wanting more, so I cannot wait to keep reading and see what's next on the horizon for my fellow female racing driver!" -PIPPA MANN, IndyCar driver for Avoidable Contact "As usual, Kaehler combines a credible group of suspects with some detailed racing lore. Even readers who don't care about cars may well be hooked by the feminist angle." -Kirkus Reviews for Kiss the Bricks

Kate Reilly can't remember a worse time in her life. She wrecks her racecar 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. But nothing is as bad as knowing her friend's killer is still out there-and aiming at Kate. Riding a roller coaster of emotion and dodging a pit reporter with a bias against women in racing, Kate redeems herself by delivering stunning performances behind the wheel. Ultimately she learns no one can escape the past-but only a murderer is driven by it.

Racecar driver Kate Reilly is suited up and ready for the start of the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona. But what lies ahead is not just a racing challenge but a harrowing test of her will and nerve off the course. Even before the green flag waves over Daytona International Speedway, Kate receives word her boyfriend Stuart is hospitalized nearby in a coma, fighting for his life after a hit-and-run. Stunned by the news, Kate can do nothing better for Stuart than complete her scheduled laps driving her team's car. But more shocks follow as Daytona's clock starts ticking. An on-track accident ends tragically. Some of her complicated family is spotted with other teams-why? And an eyewitness claims Stuart was run down deliberately by someone from the race paddock. Alternating stints behind the wheel of the team's Corvette with stretches of quizzing colleagues and searching for clues, Kate circles the police and taps every possible source-friend, foe, and family-to find out who's after Stuart and why. As the race clock counts down to zero hour, Kate must come to terms with her own fears rising from her past and decide who she's willing to trust. Only then can she identify who's willing to kill to keep a secret buried.

"John Deal is such a rich creation, full of anger, courage and doubt, that you may have to remind yourself that you're reading fiction."-Chicago Tribune John Deal's life is finally coming together-he is reunited with his lovely wife, they have a beautiful baby, and DealCo, his Miami construction business, is booming with post-Hurricane Andrew contracts rolling in. The future looks bright...until the night that his house is engulfed by an arsonist's flames and his wife is terribly burned. Unbeknownst to him, Deal has stumbled into the path of the sickly sweet plans of sugar cane magnate and Cuban imigri power broker, Vicente Luis Torreno, a man obsessed by his dreams of a repatriated Cuba and the juicy profits of the sugar monopoly he is sure will come with it. Torreno's sugar-coated influence reaches to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, a fact that more than complicates Deal's efforts to find out who is responsible for this latest tragedy and to avoid joining the string of bodies that litter the South Florida landscape, all the way from the vast cane fields of Lake Okeechobee to the shores of Biscayne Bay.

As 11-year-old Claire Hofer nears the field where her father was raking hay, she sees a skinny, unfriendly-looking stranger scuffling through the stubble toward her. The man is Township Constable John McIntire, and Claire's father is dead. McIntire finds the crime baffling. Reuben Hofer has only lived in the old St. Adele schoolhouse since early May and his family had little contact with anyone in the community save the Catholic priest and Doctor Mark Guibard, who's been attending Hofer's chronically ill, morbidly obese wife. Old acquaintances of the Hofers turn up, but no one seems to have a plausible motive for murder. Soon the spotlight of the murder investigation brings new misery to a family already devastated by misfortune and poverty, and McIntire confronts a fumbling nemesis in the bewildered and frightened, but determined, Claire.