Many thanks to the following people who “hiked” The Bone Track with me.
Thank you to my agent, Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency, who loves the Alexa Glock series and led me to the Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks team. Thank you to my first editor, Barbara Peters, and to my new editor, Diane DiBiase. These women are astute guides and can see the forest when I am in the trees. Thanks also to assistant content editor Beth Deveny, who rocks at fact-checking and copyediting.
What would I do without my writing group? Thank you to our facilitator, Nancy Peacock, and my fellow writers, Lisa Bobst, Denise Cline, Linda Jassen, and Ann Parrent.
Researching forensics is fascinating. I owe a great debt to my forensic advisor, Dr. Heidi Eldridge, an expert in the field. Her guidance has been stellar, and she admits that she is “stupidly geeky” about features in her own fingerprints.
Thank you to track operations manager Shaun Liddy at Ultimate Hikes in New Zealand. He generously read the manuscript for accuracy. According to Shaun, the expression “she’ll be right” sums up the Kiwi attitude to life: “The chances of something bad happening aren’t that high. If something bad does happen, we can handle it. Kiwis don’t sweat the little things and lead happier lives for it.”
I acknowledge neuroscientist and author David Eagleman, who has written extensively about the brain and purports that we all die three deaths.
Triangles Sisters in Crime and the North Carolina Writers’ Network have provided support and fellowship.
The poet Blanche Baughan declared the Milford Track to be “the finest walk in the world,” and I agree. Some of the places in The Bone Track are real, and some are made up. Any mistakes are real and mine alone.
Thanks, always, to my husband, Forrest.