The books in the Bloom murder mystery series are all works of fiction. Excluding a few well-known deceased artists and historic figures, all the books’ characters are fictional; this includes the main character Willard Yellowhorse. The events surrounding all characters are complete figments of my imagination. Some historic dates, events and places have been incorporated to add to the realism of the story, but the circumstances surrounding such events are complete fiction. All art galleries, artists and art dealers are fictitious, although twenty years as an art dealer have given me a keen insight into the type of individuals who make up our unique community.
All the descriptions of various Native American rituals have their basis in fact. I have changed some of these rituals to be non-specific descriptions in respect of the Navajo culture. All the Native American people in my books are fictional and any resemblance by name, clan or description is pure coincidence.
The Toadlena Trading Post, a central component of all the Bloom books, is a real working trading post. This historic post specializes in Toadlena/Two Grey Hills weavings and is well worth the effort to visit. I would like to thank its proprietor, author Mark Winter, and his wife Linda, for their invaluable insight into the world of the weavers and their land as well as for putting me up in their trailer and feeding me volumes of good home-cooked food.
No book is complete without a great cover and I’m most appreciative to Francis Livingston for so graciously allowing me to use one of his paintings and to Jaime Gould for her graphic design skills.
I would also like to thank both editor Wolf Schneider for her energy, time, and immense ability in helping me shape the final outcome of this story, for which I will forever be grateful, and James Sublette and Sally Herfurth for their editing prowess.
Finally, thank you to my muse Kathleen, and my children, Charles and Tori, for without their encouragement and love my writings would not have come to fruition.