Acknowledgments

Many thanks, once again, to pharmacologist Luci Zahray, aka The Poison Lady, for her presentation to the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime about the toxicity of certain botanicals. She has led me to various other commonly available poisons, but this is my first time killing someone in this series with a poison derived from a common perennial shrub. You rock, Luci!

The daughter of longtime friends is named Sita, and I shameless borrowed that beautiful moniker. The Raleigh, North Carolina, arboretum, however, is entirely fictional, with apologies to the two actual ones in that area.

A note on dialect: where I come from (California), those metal boxes on wheels at the supermarket that you fill with your groceries are called shopping carts. In Massachusetts, they’re carriages. Mac’s a native of the Commonwealth, so that’s how she and the locals around her refer to them.

I’m grateful to Amy Glaser for her eagle eye and insightful comments on this manuscript. Among other observations, she made sure Mac was as sensitive to others as she should be. You rock, Amy.

Huge thanks to Jennifer McKee for saving me from having to create my own graphics. She also ably assists with various other non-writing aspects of my business.

Note to readers: the ideas and words in this novel were generated entirely by the author without contribution from an AI application. I wish I didn’t have to include that statement, but you should know where your fiction comes from.

No book of mine can go out without thanking my Wicked Authors blogmates—Jessie Crockett, Sherry Harris, Julie Hennrikus, Liz Mugavero, and Barbara Ross (and all their pseudonyms)—for their ongoing support and friendship. Please also visit me on the second and fourth Fridays and the eleven other talented author-cooks at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, where you can find an original recipe (and quite a few giveaways) every day of the week.

I’m grateful, always, to John Scognamiglio, my editor at Kensington Publishing, and the expert team of publicists, artists, production staff, salespeople, and everybody else who makes the process of getting my books into print seem nearly seamless. Many thanks to my agent, John Talbot, for making it all possible.

To my sons, Allan and John David, and their fabulous wives; to my sisters, Barbara and Janet; to my partner in life, Hugh: I’m deeply grateful for your support. I’m a lucky woman.

And I always feel blessed for enthusiastic librarians, book bloggers, and readers. I wouldn’t be on this path without you.