About DT Mularkey
A Research Approach
DT Mularkey uses her academic research skills to get the story details right. Of course, the imaginary details are real to her and, she hopes, to the readers.
In addition, she has travelled extensively and lived abroad for about ten percent of her life.
At age three and a half her Air Force father was assigned to Tachikawa, Japan. She learned Japanese from the housekeeper, but don't ask her to speak it now. It's a skill she had been able to keep up. But she still has photos and black and white movies without sound that her dad took.
Returning by sea to the USA. a ten day ordeal, was the last time she was seasick. The moved to Massachusetts, where she started into elementary school.
In fourth grade, they transferred to California. One exciting day, her folks took them out of school for a mysterious reason. It turned out to be Chinese New Year in San Franciso. She remembers the firecrackers and still dislikes them.
They were transferred again to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in her seventh-grade year. By a twist if luck or fate she did graduate from Barnstable High School in Hyannis by the time her dad retired from military duty.
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Current areas of expertise and interests
Mechanical Engineering | STEM Education | Astronomy | Design | Travel and Living Abroad | Archeology | Ancient Near East | B-24s | WWII |
About the Author: D.T. Mularkey
Dona Mularkey’s first published books were textbooks for the classes she taught at Southern Methodist University while teaching mechanical engineering. During her twenty years at SMU, she also authored a cookbook with a friend and an inspirational book with a military theme.
During her time at SMU, Dona became interested in promoting engineering to girls as a career path. Her ideas about the ideal age to focus on kept changing from high school to middle school and then to elementary school. She realized one day the toys her two-year-old grandson played with were simple machines. This led her to write stories introducing kids to engineering through simple machines.
Dr. Mularkey went from professor to a writer of novels during her retirement.
Life Mantra
A woman may use any photo taken in her lifetime anytime she wants for any purpose.
My Life So Far
Dona was born in Missouri to a military family. She lived and grew up in several states and Japan. She graduated from UNC-Charlotte as the first female student to earn an engineering degree. Her first engineering job was in Dallas for LTV Corp. She moved to a subsidiary after a year, and then to Texas Instruments where she worked in their defense business for a number of years. It was at TI that she learned to scuba dive and became an assistant instructor.
Dona moved to Tennessee and attended Vanderbilt University earning her Ph.D. She won a fellowship from the National Science Foundation for a summer in Japan pursuing research, and later a fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the US Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C., followed by second AAAS fellowship in Ukraine. At the end of the contract, she taught for the University of Maryland in Europe in Belgium, Spain, and Germany.
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Returning to Texas, Dona began teaching at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Her first few summers were spent teaching for Central Texas College aboard U.S. Navy ships at home and abroad. Her first assignment saw her circle the globe on an aircraft carrier, affording her a chance to see the southern constellations and several green flash sunsets.
At SMU, Dona was tasked with successfully overseeing accreditation for her department and for all ABET-accredited Lyle School of Engineering programs. Just before retiring, she was recognized for mentoring engineering students conducting individual research and design projects
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Dona began writing short stories to fill the evenings in Kyiv, Ukraine. Two of those stories served as outlines for two novels that she wrote after retiring. She is still traveling and blogs about it at nowwhat-mularkey.com
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She has always had a wide range of interests. Today, Dona is very interested in processes, how things are done or accomplished to reach a result. These processes may be technical, social, organic, historic, just about anything really.
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Blog - Now What?
Read my weekly blog at nowwhat-mularkey.com
Additional Review
The Seven Year Glitch
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2025
DT Mularkey has written a unique story. Imagine the wealthiest of the wealthy, put together in a room for one evening, playing a high-stakes game called “Chairs,” where fortunes and lives could change in the blink of an eye.
If that were the only plotline in DT Mularkey’s The Seven Year Glitch, it would have been enough to keep me on the edge of my seat. But that’s only one of several, all interlacing throughout the novel, and dove tailing in an amazing twist at the end.
During the yearly “Chairs” games, resort owner Ledger Warren receives a death threat. The resort is packed with not only those in the game, called “Players,” but individuals who love to watch the high intensity activity.
The author cleverly introduces us to the game’s participants, as well as staff members. An author is interviewing them for a future book. These question-and-answer sessions showcase the suspects, and highlights the author’s talent for writing well-rounded characters.
The Seven Year Glitch defies genres. It takes the best from different styles. The story’s murder mystery is reminiscent of Agatha Christie. The introduction of a device called the Gizmo, is straight from H. G. Wells, and the romantic element has hints of Nora Roberts.
DT Mularkey has written a unique story that will keep you turning the pages. The title says this is book one in her series. I’m looking forward to the next book.
Review
The Dead Return
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2025Format: Kindle
What would you do if you discovered after being told the love of your life was dead, she was, in fact, very much alive? And that you have a daughter?
This is only part of what Ledger Warren faces in The Dead Return. There’s also a five-million-dollar bounty on his life, and the mother-in-law of the love of his life would prefer she die too. Oh, yeah. The Gizmo, the literally life-changing contraption that’s his island casino’s largest and most lucrative draw, isn’t working.
DT Mularkey has written a fast-paced mystery told from multiple points of view that kept me reading far after my bedtime (yawn!). Part suspense, part second-chance romance, The Dead Return is one-hundred percent entertaining and thought-provoking.
The author has created a rich and vast landscape of characters, including Allie, the grown daughter Ledger never knew he had, and Roslie, Allie’s mom, whose accomplishments and talents has him awestruck.
In the last book, we got to look at the way the casino worked and learned about the Gizmo. This installment gives us a more personal look at Ledger, including his past, and the improvements he’s made to the residents of the island.
While this is the second book of the Drake’s Key series, it can be read as a standalone. And if you haven’t read the first, The Seven Year Glitch, I urge you to pick it up (either before or after you read The Dead Return).
I’m also hoping the author continues this series. I’m here (me waving) waiting for book three.
