Like so many writers before me, I love my adopted hometown, Key West; it’s a pleasure to show you around. Most of the places and restaurants (and some of the people) mentioned really exist, though this story of course is fiction. And if Hayley is forced to give a bad review, I’ve made that restaurant up. Occasionally, I tweak geography or facts to suit my story.
I would like to express great appreciation to Matthew Carroll from the Make Do and Mend band for permission to quote a wonderful line from their song “No Words.” I saw this line tattooed on a young man’s arm while waiting for a plane in the Miami airport and knew it would become important in this book.
Thank you to reader Sue Peterson, who strongly suggested that Hayley needed a challenge in her love life. Thanks to Jane Newhagen for the cemetery tour and for helpful information about digging up graves. She also fixed some factual errors—thank you, Jane! Any remaining mistakes are mine.
I’m grateful to Jonathan Shapiro for legal advice on Lorenzo’s dilemma and to Dr. Doug Lyle and Michelle Clark for helpful information on body decomposition. Thank you to Barbara Ross for the clever name of the floating restaurant, For Goodness’ Sake, and to Hallie Ephron for help with back cover copy. Thanks to Ben Harrison for describing the spear gun, and to the Key West Ambassador program for introducing me to layers of the city I never knew existed.
Thank you to Ron Augustine for sharing insights on tarot, though any mistakes Lorenzo makes are mine. Same goes for Steve Torrence, who helps out with police-procedure questions—boneheaded moves by characters in this book are not his responsibility.
Thank you to my writer friends, who are always willing to lend a shoulder or an ear. Angelo Pompano and Chris Falcone ask all the right questions and are so steady in their willingness to read drafts and make comments and suggestions. Thank you! The women at Jungle Red Writers and Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen have become true and dear friends. Thank you! My sister, Susan Cerulean, was there at the beginning and is with me each step of the way. Thanks to every reader (I love you guys!) and to the libraries and bookstores that help them find my books.
Thanks to Paige Wheeler and her folks at Creative Media Agency for helping me navigate this crazy publishing business. And thanks to the team of professionals at New American Library, who bring the books to life, especially Sandy Harding, whose editing is truly a gift.
As always, thanks to my John. His loving support and good humor make all this possible!
Lucy Burdette
Key West, Florida
February 22, 2015