Book/Author Spotlight: Little Dirt Road and Juiced by Ted Mulcahey

Hello everyone, I hope this post finds you well. Happy Monday! I’ve been on blog hiatus but I’m still around reading and enjoying the summer. What better way to come back to blogland after a break than with a book tour stop?

Today I’m spotlighting author Ted Mulcahey. He is on virtual book tour promoting his two novels, Juiced and Little Dirt Road. These are books 3 and 4 in the author’s series. The first thing that caught my eye about these two books is the cool covers. Read on for more about these thrilling stories as well as a guest post and an author Q&A.


Little Dirt Road synopsis:
The O’Malleys are doing what? How is it possible that dangerous complications arise from their simple vacation in wine country? With their recent move to South Whidbey Island, only the O’Malley’s would stumble upon drug smugglers, embezzlers, and murderers amongst the locals. The quirky, pastoral island, reachable by a less than speedy ferry from Mukilteo or the narrow, deteriorating Deception Pass bridge, is no match for the wicked men about to visit. A notorious drug lord and a nondescript enforcer with freakish hell-raising skills invade the peaceful Pacific Northwest island—where not even the friendly locales and free-roaming long-eared rabbits can soften his homicidal heart. Weeding through the facts and surprisingly connected characters with their trusted friend, Bellevue Detective Bill Owens, the narrative swirls from Mexico to Canada and throughout Puget Sound. It’s a heart-racing and outrageously offbeat adventure for two innocent people, proving once again that trouble will find the O’Malleys without the slightest amount of effort on their part.


Juiced synopsis:
An invention can save the planet?
Somehow, someway the O’Malleys have found themselves in the thick of things once again. On peaceful, bucolic Whidbey Island, they become entangled in a corporate plot to stifle a paradigm-shattering discovery, one that promises to upend conventional thinking, topple markets, and create an entirely new industry. Kevin and Jenne, along with scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, find themselves pitted against a band of bumbling criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want—including arson and murder. It’s another rollicking adventure for the retired interior designers ably assisted by their favorite detective, the FBI, and Emma, their ever-vigilant German Shepherd Dog.

Author Guest Post:

Gloria Steinem once said “Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.” That’s how I feel when I’m writing.

If I’m on the golf course, there are times I feel I should be home doing chores or doing something with my wife (although she’s probably just as happy in the garden than having me underfoot).

If I’m doing chores or something with my wife, there are times I feel I should be writing or maybe taking Emma for a walk. When I’m writing, though, I never feel like I’m missing out on something or feeling guilty about not doing something. There are periods I get so lost in the story, the places and the characters that I lose all sense of time. You’d think sitting in a crummy task chair for three hours with no pee or coffee breaks would force an occasional glance at a watch or clock, but that doesn’t happen.

I had dabbled with writing for a long time while I was working. Usually, it was a short story or maybe an article for a trade posting. There were dozens of openings and characters started and discarded over the years. Finally, after we sold our business, I had some time to fill and revisited the remaining detritus of my efforts. I deleted most and kept a few which turned into my first completed novel, Bearied Treasure.

The title was my wife’s idea, and I can’t tell you how many people told me I had misspelled Buried. It’s the story of a fictional cult on a small island just off the coast of Vancouver Island and features a humongous Kodiak bear. Being my first effort, it is riddled with amateurish mistakes, but I still love the characters and literally shed a tear or two when I finally typed the last period.

I think Ms. Steinem had it right, at least for me.

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Author Q&A:

What genre do you write and why?
Cozy Mysteries, mostly for an enjoyable humorous journey that takes the reader somewhere else, if only for a little while.

How do you do research for your books?
For Juiced I found a number of articles discussing the projects (including their battery research) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. For Little Dirt I spent many hours researching harmful drug culture as well as the geography of the Puget Sound waters. For both, my many years in business were immensely helpful.

How did you come up with the ideas for your books?
The idea for Juiced began when I came across an interesting article on vanadium battery technology. For Little Dirt, it was more of a desire to highlight the many beautiful areas of the Pacific Northwest.

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
Mostly the quirky characters I bump into while living on an island.

What makes your books different from other cozy mysteries out there?
The locales and perhaps the sarcastic sense of humor from the principal characters.

What advice would you give budding writers?
Sit down and write. Then when you’re done for the day think about what you’ve written, but write without thinking first—that’s when the real you happens.

What is the last great book you’ve read?
It’s an old one, but Word of Honor by Nelson DeMille made an indelible impression. Probably because I was a junior officer in the US Army during the same period as the story.

In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like?
Long.



Author Bio: Ted Mulcahey has lived throughout the US, the past 35 years in the Pacific Northwest. He’s an Army vet, sales and marketing VP, entrepreneur, business owner, avid reader, one of nine children, former caddie, and lover of dogs and golf. The last twenty-five years were spent in partnership with his wife Patte, as the owners of a highly respected and published hospitality interior design firm in the Seattle Area. They’re now living on Whidbey Island and enjoying its rural bliss.
Ted writes about things he’s seen and places he’s been. He tries to incorporate personality traits of people he’s known into his fictional characters, although none of them exist in reality. Many of the locations are real but the names have been changed.

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Special thanks to Melissa over at A Marketing Expert (twitter) for making this possible.