A Beeline to Murder

Thanks also to Ken and Lynne Davis for sharing with me their knowledge about guns and police work.

A special thank-you to my friend, fellow globe-trotter, and dog lover, Katerina Lorenzatos Makris, whose knowledge about our four-legged friends and dog rescue work worldwide boggles the mind. Thank you for your enthusiasm, energy, and invaluable feedback.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Botros (Peter) Kemel and Wajiha (Jill) Nasrallah for teaching me about keeping bees and harvesting honey, and for fostering in me a love of beekeeping, which has resulted in the establishment of my own hives.

I want to thank Anne Marie Behan for her years (and stories about) working as a paramedic, and Abbie Serrano for her service in law enforcement and for inspiring my sleuth, who bears her name, albeit with a different spelling.

For her unwavering support of the Henny Penny Farmette and the vacant midcentury house she owns, which inspired threads of rising tension in this narrative, I extend a warm thank-you to Jeanne Lederer.

To my husband, Carlos J. Carvajal, and my son Joshua, I give my heartfelt thanks for your love, patience, and support throughout the writing of this book.

And finally, a hug and a kiss to my agent, Paula Munier, who tells me the truth, but always lovingly . . . and to my editor Michaela Hamilton, who saw promise in an untested novelist and took a chance.