Many thanks to the following people who helped shape Molten Mud Murder:
First to my agent, Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency, who “was intrigued from the start” and “couldn’t put it down,” and to my editor, Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen Press, who showed me the beauty of the Oxford comma.
It is a pleasure to work with these smart, responsive women. I wrote Molten Mud Murder while in the outstanding Nancy Peacock’s writing group. Thank you, Nancy, and to Denise Cline, Lynn Davis, Lynn Harris, and Linda Janssen, all of whom provided guidance and inspiration.
Experts rock! Thank you to Angela Oliver of the Christchurch Writers’ Guild, my Kiwi expert. Thank you, Arapine Walker, Poutiaki Rauemi, of the National Library of New Zealand, my Maori expert. Thank you, Janie Slaughter, Department Head/ Criminal Justice at Wake Technical Community College, my forensics expert.
Beverly Koester, my friend, always had keen and gentle suggestions.
Triangle Sisters (and brothers) in Crime provided fellowship and inspiration.
Cheers to all who came to visit while we lived in New Zealand: my children, Scott, Phillip, and Sally Weiner; my niece, Juta Fowlkes; my stepson, Rob Johnson; my sister, Jennifer Fowlkes; and my mother, Sally Freeman.
Some of the places in Molten Mud Murder are real and some are made up. All the mistakes are real and mine alone.
Molten Mud Murder exists because one day my husband said, “How would you like to live in New Zealand for a year?” Thank you, Forrest, for that and for being my best friend and best adviser.