As always, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude toward my agent, Diana Fox; my valiant assistant, Sarah Simpson Weiss; and above all to the guidance and patience of my editor, Pam Gruber. Thanks also go to Stephanie Stoecker and Marti Dumas for sitting through brainstorming sessions; to Paul Christian, aka the “Word Cop,” for making sure I got things done; to Tom and Judith at Octavia Books for all their help; and to the Peauxdunque Writers’ Alliance for camaraderie and support.