Book 19 in the Kinsey Millhone series

The author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the following people: Steven Humphrey; Ben Holt, Ben Holt Equipment; Ken Seymour, http://www.1953chevrolet.com/; John Mackall, Counselor-at-Law, Seed Mackall LLP; Greg Boller, Deputy District Attorney, Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office; John Lindren. D amp;H Equipment; Bill Turner, Detective Sergeant (retired), Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department; G. David Dyne, M.D.; T. J. Dwire, Title Officer, Lawyers Title Company; Emily Craig, Forensic Anthropologist, Kentucky State Medical Examiner’s Office; John White, KellyCo Metal Detector Superstore; Dale Kreiter, Library Technician, and the Stall of the Santa Maria Public Library; Leslie Twine; Florence Michel; C. L. Burk; and Don Gastiger.

Thank you, Hairl Wilson, for the use of your first name, and Bob Ziegler, for the use of your name in its entirety.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters are conjured out of whole cloth, which is to say, the persons inhabiting this novel are figments of my imagination and have no real-life counterparts. Anyone who knows the city of Santa Maria and the surrounding countryside not only will recognize the setting for this book but also will note the many liberties I’ve taken with geography. There is no abandoned two-story Tudor residence in the center of that flat, agricultural landscape. The towns of Serena Station, Cromwell, Barker, Freeman, Tullis, Arnaud, and Silas are invented. Some of the roads exist, but as I’ve recently appointed myself Acting Chair and sole member of the Santa Teresa County Regional Transportation Planning Agency, I’ve relocated, rerouted, and renamed these roads according to the dictates of the story. Please do not write me those notes telling me I got it wrong, because I