Thank you also to my agent, Barbara Casey. Barbara has found a home for all my novels, including "Fast Track" and "Bluff" at Robert Gelinas's ArcheBooks. It's hard for me to be objective about my novels, but Barbara tells me "Bullet" is my best one yet. 

And a big hug to my illustrator cousin Christine Ganas who brought to life my idea of a bullet in a syringe. Her graphic will be part of the book's cover (which is still a work-in-progress). 

I also have many of you to thank for all your support after my youngest son Stephen, 22, died in 2011 of an accidental heroin overdose. The events surrounding his death are fictionalized in "Bullet." 

The point I want to make in the novel is that heroin addiction is an equal opportunity scourge that knows no race or class. It can grab even the good ones by the throat. And Stephen was definitely one of the good ones.

It's also my strong belief that heroin dealers who sell a dose that proves fatal should be charged with second-degree murder because it's the same as selling a pistol with one bullet in the chamber to a person they know will play Russian roulette. In my opinion, the dealer's indifference is murder -- and many law enforcement organizations are beginning to see it that way, too. 

Yes, "Bullet" was tough to write, but it was also cathartic. I hope you'll read it and agree that Lark Chadwick's story of drones, drugs, and journalism is a rip-roaring good read.