"I first saw Jared McKean leaning against a wooden fence. His arms were crossed, and he was wearing jeans and a brown leather bomber jacket that I knew had once belonged to his father. He was waiting for me to give up trying to write a novel featuring a feisty female detective I didn't understand, come to my senses, and give him a series of his own. It makes not a whit of difference that this encounter occurred entirely in my mind."
-- Elizabeth Michael Terrell

Here's one Nashville cat who may just be worth watching.

Despite the presence of such modern-day trappings as AIDS, Goths, DNA forensics and a decidedly sympathetic view of his Downs Syndrome child, JARED McKEAN's 2009 debut, Racing the Devil, the first in a proposed series, is in other ways a decidedly real old-fashioned hard-boiled private eye yarn.

You've got your classic femme fatale, a murder frame and of course a heart-on-his-sleeve private eye with a messy personal life who makes the perfect patsy.

E. Michael Terrell is a member of the MWA, the PWA, Sisters in Crime, the Tennessee Writers' Alliance and probably the AAA. She's also a certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist, so if your horse needs a rubdown...

By the way, it's interesting what a little name change can do. In 2012, Racing the Devil was re-released as by "Jaden E. Terrell" and was promptly nominated for a Best First P.I. Novel of 2012, even though it was published three years earlier. Turns out it's not just Jared McKean who bears watching...