I thank Jane Pacheco Bellucci and Roberta Astolfi for invaluable collaboration in the research. I also thank my editor, Paulo Rocco, and Marianna Teixeira Soares for their support and enthusiasm. As always, special thanks to my eternal friend Rubem Fonseca for his attentive reading, and to my husband John for being ever at my side.
The Body Snatcher is a work of fiction, with names of characters and places freely created by the author, with no relation to reality.