Like most books, this one would not have made it out of my notebooks but for some awesome mammals around me. First, a big thank you to my little family for putting up with my time away from them to create Pickles’ world and for being subjected to several rounds of beta reading.

Barry Jowett, my editor at DCB, you are a patient, lovely man, and I appreciate all the work you put into my manuscript.

Emma Dolan is the illustrator who can seemingly take any story I write, be it a 1930s detective or a zombie-fighting cat, and translate it into the most beautiful cover on the bookshelf. I am endlessly grateful to have you in my publishing life.

My little writing group, who have been forced to listen to the exploits of my rag-tag bunch of adventurers for years, Joyce Grant, Alisha Sevigny, Colleen Ross, Bev Katz and Heather Jackson, thank you!

To the indie bookstores like Book City on St. Clair W and the Mysterious Bookshop in NYC, who continue to carry my books and speak of my characters to your readership, thank you!

Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for their repeated support of this series, and to Karen Li for being the first to support and guide Pickles on her journey. And a shout-out to my teacher, Kathy Kacer who helped me make the transition from YA to middle-grade author.

To my first editor, Kat Kruger, who continues to be a huge source of support and love, thank you.

Huge thanks to Shelagh Rogers and Marc Côté for your kind faith and support.

And finally, I must dedicate this book to all the four-legged animals who have called me pet over the years, Princess, Gauss, Mendel, Darwin, Guttenberg, and Copernicus.