A day in my life…that depends on which day. Let’s go with a typical work day I suppose, though even those have been chaotic for the last several months. Generally the plan is: up at 5:30am with an alarm clock named Shadow whose gentle pressure on my arm becomes soft groans and then wet licks on my cheek if I don’t respond. If he was my husband it would be a little weird, or maybe a lot weird, but then, it would also mean I was in a beautiful dream because Greg died a few months ago. Anyway, I digress.

Shadow and I go for a run, then a quick shower for me and a kiss on both cheeks by my great-Aunt Irm. She’s lived with us since Greg’s accident and I don’t know what I’d do without her. Not just the coffee mug on my way out the door, or the home-cooked meals after a long day at the hospital, but the card games she occasionally lets me win, and the books we read together at night, and the encouragement to get back out in the world.

On clinical days I have to be changed into scrubs and ready to start OR cases by 7:30. As an anesthesiologist at an academic medical center, that means talking with my residents and students, meeting and consenting patients, and being prepared for all the plans we made the night before to implode in one way or another throughout the day—emergency cases bumping scheduled ones, the surgical plan changing mid-stream, uncomplicated labor becoming an urgent Cesarean at a moment’s notice. One day is never like the next. That’s what makes it challenging and fun and exhausting and sometimes heart-wrenching. I remind my residents (and myself) that it’s a privilege to take care of patients at their most vulnerable. If not to deal with the anxious husbands who have “read about epidurals on the internet and I know you’re doing it wrong.”

After work it’s home for a lovely dinner with Aunt Irm and a walk with Shadow after I clean the kitchen, then games or books or talking and laughing together until bedtime. After a year of purgatory with Greg in a coma, then his death, Aunt Irm is gently encouraging (her words) / pushing (my words) a relationship with Christian O’Donnell. We met inauspiciously over the mysterious death of his father and, if Aunt Irm has anything to say about it, we’ll be solving more mysteries together in the future.

Misfire, A Kate Downey Medical Mystery Book #2
Genre: Thriller
Release: January 2023
Format: Print and Digital
Purchase Link

A device that can save a life is also one that can end it

Kadence, a new type of implanted defibrillator, misfires in a patient visiting University Hospital for a routine medical procedure—causing the heart rhythm problem it’s meant to correct. Dr. Kate Downey, an experienced anesthesiologist, resuscitates the patient, but she grows concerned for a loved one who recently received the same device—her beloved Great-Aunt Irm.

When a second device misfires, Kate turns to Nikki Yarborough, her friend and Aunt Irm’s cardiologist. Though Nikki helps protect Kate’s aunt, she is prevented from alerting other patients by the corporate greed of her department chairman. As the inventor of the device and part owner of MDI, the company he formed to commercialize it, he claims that the device misfires are due to a soon-to-be-corrected software bug. Kate learns his claim is false.

The misfires continue as Christian O’Donnell, a friend and lawyer, comes to town to facilitate the sale of MDI. Kate and Nikki are drawn into a race to find the source of the malfunctions, but threats to Nikki and a mysterious murder complicate their progress. Are the seemingly random shocks misfires, or are they attacks?

A jaw-dropping twist causes her to rethink everything she once thought she knew, but Kate will stop at nothing to protect her aunt and the other patients whose life-saving devices could turn on them at any moment.

Perfect for fans of Robin Cook and Tess Gerritsen

Meet the author
Tammy Euliano’s writing is inspired by her day job as a physician, researcher and educator at University of Florida. She’s received numerous teaching awards, ~100,000 views of her YouTube teaching videos, and was featured in a calendar of women inventors (available wherever you buy your out-of-date planners). In addition to multiple short stories, her debut medical thriller, Fatal Intent, was published by Oceanview in 2021. Kathy Reichs of Bones fame called it, “Medical suspense as sharp as it gets.” The sequel, Misfire, came out in January. Michael Connelly, best-selling author of the Bosch series, called it “a first rate medical thriller.”

All comments are welcomed.