During one of her first solo body removal jobs as an apprentice mortician, Melisende Dulac discovers an old man’s sad end may not have been all that natural.

“Hey Nineteen” marks the first appearance of Melisende Dulac, and precedes the events of Crossroad by about eight months. It appears in the anthology A Beast Without A Name: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan, (Down and Out Books, October 28, 2019).

Edited by Brian Thornton, A Beast Without A Name features stories by Steve Brewer, W.H. Cameron, Reed Farrel Coleman, Libby Cudmore, Aaron Erickson, Naomi Hirahara, Matthew Quinn Martin, Richie Narvaez, Kat Richardson, Peter Spiegelman, Jim Thomsen, and Jim Winter.