Greasy Bend

by Kris Lackey

  I am indebted to Jon Portis for discovering a crucial plotting flaw in Nail’s Crossing.

  A warm salute to Jenny Vigil, the owner of Norman’s Gray Owl Coffee, and to the shop’s crew of brilliant baristas, who daily solved vocabulary and diction puzzles: Laney, Laura, Andrew, Rachel, Chris, Braden, Roshni, Erica, Katie, Boob, Emily, Avery, Caleb, and Lucas. Also to Dr. Mark Norris, the Owl’s resident linguist, and to its genii Dale Wares and John Green. Thanks as well to the baristas at Michelangelo’s: Sierra, Reese, Marla, and Carolina.

  Debbie and Lee Maytubby (no relation to our detective) supplied me with a relation’s history of the Chickasaw Nation.

  Many thanks to my agent, Richard Curtis, to my Blackstone publicists Lauren Maturo and Jeff Yamaguchi, and to my cover designer, Djamika Smith.