Kiss the Bricks

By Tammy Kaehler

At the end of the first practice session for the iconic Indianapolis 500 race, Kate Reilly is stunned to discover she was the fastest driver on the track. She's even more surprised to learn she wasn't the first woman to top the speed charts in the race's 106-year history. That feat was accomplished in 1987 by PJ Rodriguez-steady, dedicated, immensely promising-who shocked the racing world and the wider one by committing suicide ten days later.

When the press, bloggers, and social media go crazy over the connection between PJ and Kate, Kate begins to lose her identity-suddenly everyone's comparing Kate and PJ, calling Kate PJ, and wondering if Kate will kill herself, too. Under siege from various trolls live and digital, Kate feel PJ's story deeply. So she's impelled to listen to PJ's family-which claims PJ did not jump, but was murdered. And she agrees to help them find PJ's killer and restore her reputation...30 years after the fact.

PJ's death was a great tragedy; Kate feels it in her bones and believes she is the best person, perhaps the only person, to investigate PJ's story. What evidence is there? She can interview people at the track who were there in 1987. She can consult the press coverage. And she can marshal up help from "Special Team Kate." They work in an atmosphere of prejudice and chauvinism, the same that surrounded PJ.

But Kate is at the Indy to run the biggest race of her career. To prepare she fills her days with driving on the track for practice, fulfilling sponsor obligations, promoting the IndyCar Series and as ever, playing peacemaker between the warring sides of her maternal and paternal families.

Before long one suspect in PJ's death turns up dead, all but confirming PJ was killed. So as Kate prepares to run the biggest race of her life she must narrow down the clues to not one but two murders, all while fighting for her own voice and identity through the storm of media attention. Will the past stay buried? Or will history repeat itself and leave Kate dead?

Kiss the Bricks is the 5th Kate Reilly mystery and takes its title from the Indy winner's tradition of kissing the track's Yard of Bricks in tribute to its legendary history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: May 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781464207327

Tammy Kaehler

When Tammy Kaehler discovered the racing world, she was hooked by the contrast between its top-dollar, high-drama competition, and friendly, family atmosphere. Mystery fans and racing insiders alike have praised her award-winning Kate Reilly Mystery Series (Dead Man's Switch, Braking Points, Avoidable Contact, and Red Flags), and Tammy takes readers back behind the wheel in her fifth entry, Kiss the Bricks. She works as a freelance writer in Southern California, where she lives with her husband and many cars.

Reviews for Kiss the Bricks

[daniexj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Heh. The Acknowldgements were cool. And for the most part so was the rest of the novel as well.Kate is racing at the Indy 500 again. Of course, it's not as easy peasy as that, or it would be a boring book.What happens is that Kate is the fastest car in the very first practice for Indy that year and suddenly she's being compared to another woman, PJ, who did that feat as well, but then ten days later PJ killed herself.Except, PJ's family doesn't believe that PJ committed suicide. Instead they think it was murder. And of course they've heard about what Kate has done at other races, solving crimes, and so they want her to investigate too.As the readers we get three things. We get a story at the Indy 500 in 1989 with PJ in it, and we also get the present day story with Kate preparing for her Indy 500. And of course, the third part of the story is Kate trying in her own way to investigate whether PJ dying was a suicide or murder.The racing stuff (both in the present and the past) was awesome as usual, and I even liked the tiny bit of romantic subplot that was in the book too.It was a very 'settled' book. For once the mystery didn't directly involve Kate and the drama with her family wasn't at the center of everything for this book either which was very nice. (From stuff in this book I have no doubt that they'll be back in the next book). But, for this book it was a nice, regular sort of mystery. Awesome!I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Poisoned Pen Press.