City of the Dead

by Eileen Dreyer

  Now the people who helped offer veracity for this book:

  In St. Louis: Dr. Peter Ahlering, Mary Palmer, RN, and Herman Rodriguez, Sher Institute; Katie Lucas, RN, St. John’s Mercy Medical Center; all the great folk at Neustaedter’s Jewelers.

  In New Orleans: Dr. Karen Ross (whose hospitality is unrivaled), Bo and Elizabeth, Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office; Karen Chabert, RN, Forensic Nurse Liaison, LSU Health Science Center, who gave me the seeds of Kareena Boudreaux, although Kareena doesn’t hold a candle to the exceptional Karen; Det. Sgt. Dave Morales, Det. Sgt. Dennis Thornton, and Det. Eddie Klein, Homicide Division, Jefferson Parish; P/O IV Edward J. Delery, Scientific Criminal Investigative Division, New Orleans Police Department; Sgt. Gerard Dugue, New Orleans Homicide.

  Division; Roxanne Becnel and Barbara Colley for the wonderful tour of their New Orleans, especially the Garden District in the rain; Christophe Hinton, taxi driver extraordinaire; Sunny Holliday, Gallatoire’s Restaurant; Claudie Williams, Starling Books; Anna from Erzulie’s; Angela Laing, Jackson Square tarot reader; Brandon Kelley, Voodoo Authentica. Thank you all. You were so gracious with your time and hospitality that I had a terrible time deciding when to finish the research and start the writing. I know I’ve forgotten someone. Let me know, and I promise to include you in the next acknowledgments.

  To Jen Crusie for the chaos theory over Chinese food; to Andrea Cirillo; to Matthew Shear, Kim Cardascia, Joe Rinaldi, and all at St. Martin’s Press for the patience and the support; especially to Jen Enderlin, who edited a travelogue into a suspense. To JMM, who was kind enough to allow me to tell this story. To the real Fred Hayes-Adams for being gracious enough to bid to have herself included. To the Divas—Karyn Witmer-Gow, Kim Bush, and Tami Hoag (who provided the perfect sanctuary)—for sanity, support, and safety. A separate thanks to Karyn Witmer-Gow for judicious editing and generous hand-holding. And, of course, to Rick for every little thing you do (except traveling without me) and Kev, Kate, and Juan. Deadline robe is off (at least momentarily).

  About the Author

  New York Times Bestselling author Eileen Dreyer, Kathleen Korbel to her Silhouette readers has published over forty books and ten short stories in suspense and a plethora of subgenres in romance.

  A native of St. Louis, where she still lives with her family, Eileen is also an RN,BS with sixteen years experience in trauma medicine, and training in death investigation, forensics and Tactical EMS(acting as a medic on a SWAT team). A seasoned speaker, she has taught in venues that range from Washington University in St. Louis to the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy with innumerable writing conferences in between. When not writing, she is traveling, gardening or cheering on her St. Louis Cardinals. She has animals, but refuses to expose them to the limelight.

  www.eileendreyer.com