Wishbones

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Growing up in Lucedale, Mississippi, I had several advantages, but one of the biggest is that my family told stories. My mother, father, and grandmother were all accomplished creators of tall tales, spun out with pace and drama. The fact that we all leaned a bit toward ghost stories was also helpful-except on those dark nights when the old house I grew up in began to creak and talk to me.

My love for “the possible” in each story and in life comes from these people, who enriched my imagination every night with a bedtime story. Good or bad, I am a product of the things they instilled in me.

I also have to thank my agent, Marian Young, who shares my love of dogs, cats, horses, and a good yarn. And Kelley Ragland, my editor, who has followed me from the dark side to the more humorous stories of the Mississippi Delta mysteries. Her instincts are right on target and because of her, I end up with a better book.

The entire St. Martin’s team has been terrific. Matt Martz makes the day-to-day business of being a writer easier to bear. Lauren Manzella in the PR office, the entire art department, and the library team-thank you all. This has been a great publishing experience, and I’m looking forward to the next book.

I also have to thank Aleta Boudreaux, Alice Jackson, Renee Paul, Stephanie Chisholm, Susan Tanner, and Gary and Shannon Walker. These members of the Deep South Writers Salon have been great readers. And good friends. Talented in their own rights, they’ve shared their time to read my manuscript.

A special thanks goes to Suzy Dutton, who won the Bones naming contest. She was the first person to suggest Wishbones as a title. And for all of her hard work, she ends up a glamorous movie star who… well, you have to read the book to find out.

In the past few years, I’ve lost several of my wonderful family of four-legged friends. Sweetie Pie, my valiant hound who fought diabetes and other illnesses, and the beautiful and fabulous Maybelline, who stood in for Sweetie at book signings and photo shoots wearing sunglasses and a scarf, have both died. Sweetie was twelve, and she lived far longer than anyone expected. Maybelline was seventeen. Both leave a hole in the fabric of my day.

Younger dogs and cats, many of them abandoned after Hurricane Katrina, have found their way to my home. Down here in the South, there are no laws requiring neutering of pets. But I urge you to please spay and neuter, and to adopt from your local shelter. You never know when you’ll find your own canine or feline star.

If you wish to write me, please do so at cehaines@mindspring.com. And visit my Web site at www.carolynhaines.com. There’s no telling what shenanigans we’ll be up to there.