I would like to thank the following people: California Department of Fish and Game Assistant Chief of the South Coast Region Mervin Hee, Captain Nancy Foley, Lieutenant Kathy Ponting, Lieutenant Adrian Foss, Lieutenant Keith Long, Warden Richard Vincent; without their help and guidance this book wouldn’t have happened. My agent, Philip Spitzer, whose sensibility and undaunted enthusiasm I’ve relied on throughout. My editor, Jay Schaefer, for seeing the true possibilities in Marquez and then guiding me to write a better novel. Branch Russell, Lydia McIntosh, my brother and sister. Greg Estes, Paul Hansen, Tim Stokes, John Buffington, Tony Broadbent, David Hayden, good friends who waded through rough drafts and offered ideas that were often better than my own. I am deeply indebted to a crime fiction writer—who shall remain nameless here—for his extraordinary generosity, thoughtful advice, and the encouragement he gave when it mattered most. My daughters, Kate and Olivia, for their humor and patience, for enduring the “just give me another few minutes to finish this paragraph” that so often stretched into an hour. And especially to Judy, my wife, who never once challenged my idea that I could and would write novels, and whose support has never wavered.