Many people helped this book into existence, but it might not have made it at all but for the early encouragement of playwright Terryl Paiste.
My sincerest thanks also to the tireless volunteers of the Malice Domestic conference, who further midwifed this novel via their generous award of the Malice Domestic Grant (now renamed in memory of the beloved William F. Deeck).
The members of Sisters in Crime, particularly those of the Chesapeake Chapter, were there when I needed them, which was often.
I would also like to offer heartfelt thanks to the staff of Midnight Ink, beginning with Barbara Moore.
Many thanks also to Muir Ainsley, who patiently and correctly answered all my questions about British arcana without once asking me to please leave him alone. Any mistakes in the novel are entirely mine.
And as always, thanks to my husband, for his patience, love, and support through what must have seemed to him an endless and everlasting process.