Thanks go to my mum, dad, Farrah, Digs and Dan for enduring eighteen months of book talk and still managing to be unfailingly enthusiastic and supportive even when they were probably bored stiff of hearing about it. To Belinda Jones and Marie O’Riordan for giving a complete novice a break into journalism. Big thanks also to Louise Chunn, Polly Williams, Johnny Aldred, PB, Dog, Will Storr, Adrian Broadway, legal eagle John Kelly and Steven Wright for police procedure – any mistakes are mine. Matthew Williamson for Venetia’s address, Katerine in Megeve, Deborah Joseph for the house and the adventures during the Cannes film festival and to Basil Charles in Mustique who knew everything there was to know about the island.
To St Thomas’s hospital and my lovely midwife team for looking after me when I had a bad pregnancy and a book to write. To the fantastic team at HarperCollins for believing in Daddy’s Girls and working so hard on it, particularly Wayne Brookes, editor extraordinaire, for his impeccable judgement, support and for making the whole process a great deal of fun. And of course to my agent Sheila Crowley, Naomi Leon, Linda Shaughnessy and Teresa Nicholls at AP Watt.
Lots of love goes to my son, Finlay, the world’s cutest alarm clock, and finally my husband and hero John, a much better writer than I am, who parked his own dreams of penning a novel so I could pursue mine. He read and edited the whole manuscript and made countless suggestions to make it so much better. Thanks for everything – this one’s for you honey.