ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My heartfelt thanks to Doreen Button, who looked over the manuscript in detail and made suggestions at critical points, all the way through proofreading.

Thanks to my friend and skilled editor Rod Morris for our partnership on yet another project. Thanks also to Julee Schwarzburg for her graciousness, attention to detail, and editorial input, as well as to Jennifer Barrow, for her outstanding copyediting. And to Rebekah Nafziger and Adrienne Spain for proofreading, and Pamela McGrew for typesetting.

Thanks to Kevin Marks and Doug Gabbert, for your encouragement and patience with this project. And to Sharon Znachko, for all your work and your kind words … thanks, sis.

I’m grateful to all those who have been part of the Multnomah family—including my friend Jay Echternach—and to my dedicated partners at WaterBrook who will help get this book into people’s hands. And to the booksellers, without whom it wouldn’t matter that I write books.

Thanks to the DesignWorks Group and especially to Tim Green for his great work on the Deception cover, as well as the new covers for Deadline and Dominion. (And thanks to Lawrence and Robin Green, who get some credit for Tim.)

Thanks to the staff of Eternal Perspective Ministries, who do so much for me and who put up with a lot while I was buried in this project. Specifically, thanks to my assistants, Kathy Norquist and Linda Jeffries; my secretary, Bonnie Hiestand; and our bookkeeper and diligent proofreader, Janet Albers. Bonnie in particular spent many hours deciphering my handwritten changes when I was reading the book aloud.

Thanks to Diane Meyer for her interest in a spin-off book from Deadline and Dominion and her encouragement after reading an early draft. Also for her great job on the study questions. And to all the readers who’ve written me about those books, published in 1994 and 1996, who asked me to write another, not expecting to wait this long.

Thanks to our dear friend Sue Keels, for coming up with the title Deception while we were brainstorming during a glorious vacation. Thanks also to my buddy Steve Keels, Sue’s husband, who regularly made helpful comments, such as “Aren’t you done with that book yet?”

Special thanks to Detective Sergeant Tom Nelson, who helped me years ago with Deadline and Dominion and who cheerfully answered many questions over many months concerning Deception. Thanks also to my friends Jim Seymour, police officer, and Darrell MacKay, arson investigator, for your helpful insights.

Thanks to Sarah Ballenger for her research on various questions. And to Amy Campbell for entering my manuscript changes on short notice, while trying not to let it spoil the book for her.

Thanks to Tony and Martha Cimmarrusti, Carlos and Gena Norris, Stu Weber, Carol Hardin, Ken and Joni Tada, Sarah Thebarge, and our Sunday night football group, for comments they made that contributed to this book though they didn’t know it. Thanks to Dave Stout for introducing me years ago to one of Ollie’s mottoes.

Thank you, Frank and Myrna Eisenzimmer and Randy and Sue Monnes, for offering me places to write that proved to be great sanctuaries. And to our EPM Prayer Partners, whose prayers as I wrote this book may prove to be the single greatest human contribution to it.

Heartfelt thanks to my wife and best friend, Nanci, whose encouraging comments on the manuscript kept me going in rough times and who thoughtfully gave me permission to go back to work many times when neither of us wanted me to.

Thanks to my precious daughters, Karina and Angela, who made valuable comments on the prologue, and to my wonderful sons, Dan Franklin and Dan Stump, whose lives and interactions contributed to portions of the book. Thanks to Angie also for the medical insights. Thanks to our grandsons, Jake, Ty, and Matt, endless sources of delight when I came in from my office needing a joy transfusion.

I also want to acknowledge Rex Stout, creator of the Nero Wolfe mysteries, written in the 1930s to 1960s. Ollie, my viewpoint character, admires Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Now and then I’ve put into Ollie’s mouth some of Stout’s expressions, a tribute to him. I couldn’t give Stout credit each time, nor can I remember all I’ve absorbed from many pleasant hours reading his books. So I credit him here for what are probably several dozen of his phrases or ideas scattered throughout this book.

Finally and most importantly, thank You, my Lord Jesus, for sustaining me through this project, which was delayed by innumerable unanticipated events in order to conform to Your perfect timing. I pray above all that You are pleased by it and will use it as You see fit.