Continued thanks to Wayne Brookes, Jeremy Trevathan and all the team at Pan Macmillan for publishing this book. Also to my agent Gordon Wise for his continuing sage advice, and to Michael McCoy for handling all my other writing work.
Thank you to Angela Sinden for sharing her insights on how it feels to be pregnant, and to Philippa Perry for sharing her insights into how someone might become a private investigator. Especially big thanks to my parents Maureen and Brian for taking me on so many holidays to Butlins as a child that I didn’t need to do any research for that section of the book. Thanks to Didi Schmiterlow for allowing me to name a dreadful PA after her; she, of course, is anything but.
Debbie and Andrew Rush bid a considerable amount of money for Moodswings Network to have a character in the book named after Debbie’s wonderful mum Margaret Mary Lavery. Moodswings is a Manchester-based charity that gives information, advice and ongoing support to people with mood disorders and other forms of emotional distress. So thank you Debbie and Andrew.
To Linda Wilson, I finally got you in there.
And to Paul Hunt, we finally got there.