Tim Kehoe

Tim Kehoe (May 11, 1970 – February 27, 2014) was an author and toy inventor from St. Paul, Minnesota. He invented numerous toys, and was perhaps best known for inventing non-staining colored bubbles, Zubbles. Zubbles took more than 14 years to develop^[1] and incorporated a great deal of research in various fields, including chemistry and the science of dyeing. Kehoe died unexpectedly at the age of 43 in 2014.^[2]

Kehoe was the author of the Vincent Shadow series published by Little, Brown and Company. Eleven-year-old Vincent Shadow dreamed of being a toy inventor. He had notebooks full of ideas: bubbles that carried sound, rockets that pop into kites, and a football that would rather bite than be caught. Unfortunately, the secret attic lab where Vincent built his prototypes had seen more disasters than triumphs. But a chance encounter with eccentric toy inventor Howard G. Whiz, and the discovery of long-lost inventions by one of the world's greatest scientists would change Vincent's life forever.

Kehoe also authored the forthcoming middle-grade thriller Furious Jones and the Assassin's Secret. Furious Jones’s dad is a world-famous thriller writer, an all around Hemingway-esque tough-guy. His dad was brutally murdered onstage one week before the release of his latest book. Furious had a front row seat to the killing. Now an orphan, Furious is set to inherit a small fortune and massive trouble. But, after spending time with a secret copy of his dad’s soon-to-be-released book, Furious decides to stop running and start chasing.

• The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow, 11/01/2009, Little, Brown, and Company
• Vincent Shadow: Toy Inventor, 8/03/2011, Little, Brown, and Company
• Vincent Shadow: The Top Secret Toys, 11/02/2011, Little, Brown, and Company
• Furious Jones and the Assassin's Secret, Coming spring 2014, Simon & Schuster

• 2005 Popular Science Grand Prize for Innovation
• 2006 One of America’s 100 Best by Reader's Digest
• 2006 'Forty Under 40' winner by the Business Journal
• 2008 'Pick of the Lists' choices at the Midwest Booksellers Association Fall Trade Show
• 2011 North Carolina Children's Book Award Nominee

• The Believer interview, May 2007
• Startup Nation
• Morning Edition interview, December 22, 2005
• [1] Shelf Awareness, September 29, 2008
• [2] 2011 North Carolina Children's Book Award Winners

• Tim Kehoe's web site (archived)
• Vincent Shadow web site (archived)
• Zubbles home page (archived)