Again, my sincere thanks to John Sargent, head of Macmillan; Sally Richardson, who serves as chairman of St. Martin’s Publishing; Jen Enderlin, who captains St. Martin’s Press, and my publisher at Minotaur, Andrew Martin. Also, a huge debt of gratitude continues for Hector DeJean in Publicity; Jeff Dodes and everyone in Marketing and Sales, especially Paul Hochman and Danielle Prielipp; Anne Marie Tallberg, the sage of all things paperback; David Rotstein, who produced the cover; and Mary Beth Roche and her innovative folks in Audio.
A huge bow goes to Simon Lipskar, my agent and friend, and to my editor, Kelley Ragland, and her assistant, Madeline Houpt, both of whom are wonderful.
A few extra mentions: Meryl Moss and her extraordinary publicity team (especially Deb Zipf); Jessica Johns and Esther Garver, who continue to keep Steve Berry Enterprises running smoothly; Anna Slotorsz, for making our trips to Kraków so much easier; Patrycja Antoniak, who twice guided us through the Wieliczka salt mine, answered my endless inquiries, then read the manuscript looking for errors; Jan Kucharz, one of the salt miners who showed us the hidden treasures; Iwona Zbela, for extending some great hospitality while we were in Wieliczka; Jolanta Pustuła Szeląg, who possesses an encyclopedic knowledge about the Spear of St. Maurice; Father Simon Stefanowicz for the wonderful tour of Jasna Góra; and Sonia Draga, publisher extraordinaire, who was there from the beginning, making all of my novels available in Polish.
As always, though, my wife, Elizabeth, remains the most special of all.
Twenty-nine years ago a man at a local community college asked me to join his creative writing group. I did, and so began a relationship that altered the course of my life. Here’s a fact: No one can teach anyone how to write. It’s impossible. But there are people who can teach you how to teach yourself to write.
Frank Green was that for me.
He was a tough taskmaster, but I would not be published if not for him.
Thankfully he’s still there.
In my head.
Every day.