ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am writing these acknowledgments in May of 2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. When you read this book, I hope this strange time is a distant memory for all of us. Like many authors, I struggled with how to address the pandemic in a contemporary novel, but I ultimately decided to leave much of the manuscript as it was originally written (though careful readers will notice that no one shakes hands in these pages!) Right now, I yearn for a world with passed hors d’oeuvres and caviar stations, one where students go to college and live in dorms, and where friends meet at restaurants for dinner. Let’s hope that the simple pleasures of the recent past will soon be part of our future.
In such a sad and tumultuous year, saying thank you seems especially important.
First, thank you to the many booksellers who play a vital role in communities all around the world. Authors can’t do what we love without you, and I look forward to working together for many years to come.
Thank you to the bloggers, bookstagrammers, and reviewers who help promote writers: Dru Ann; Kristopher; Ann, Tracey, and Kathy; Daniel, Dave, and Sean; cofounder of His Girl Thursby, Jackie Shephard, as well as Linda Zagon, Book Gypsy, and the other members of the group; and many, many others.
I am indebted to Bruce Robert Coffin, former detective sergeant with the Portland Police and current author, for helping me with the details of police procedure. If you like expertly plotted police procedurals, check out his fantastic Detective Byron series (
www.brucecoffin.com). Also, many thanks to Odile Harter of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library for giving me an inside view of this fascinating institution and the day-to-day life of a research librarian.
Widener: Biography of a Library by Matthew Battles also provided important details. As always, any and all errors are my own.
When I returned to Boston from San Francisco in the early 2000s, I lived a few blocks away from Jamaica Pond and went running there most mornings, right by a ruined, burned-out mansion that sat behind an imposing chain-link fence. This was Pinebank Mansion. Most of the details about the house in this book are true—it sat on a hill overlooking the pond; it was the only existing house on the pond that Frederick Olmsted worked into the design for the Emerald Necklace; and it was severely damaged by two fires in the seventies. What isn’t true is that it was saved. After many attempts to preserve the house, the structure was deemed too damaged to restore, and it was razed. I bet I wasn’t the only morning jogger who imagined what it might be like to live in the beautiful house and to wake up each morning beside the pond, so I decided to resurrect Pinebank for this novel. Many thanks to the Jamaica Plain Historical Society (
www.jphs.org) for helping me research the history of Pinebank. If you would like to learn more about it, or Jamaica Plain, they are a terrific resource.
Thanks to my early readers, who help save me from myself: Katherine Bates, Daniel Ford, Shawn Reilly Simmons, and Alicia Young.
Maxine, Tucker, and Jennifer began as characters in a short story called “White Tights and Mary Janes” published as part of the Department of First Stories in the January/February 2018 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I will forever be grateful to Janet Hutchings and Jackie Sherbow for giving me my first big break.
Many thanks to Ron for Chicken Day, to Will for hiding that box top; to Ann and Michael for Fred and Adele, and to Katherine and Ben for the many memories on Sherwood Street.
To my agent, Robert Guinsler, thank you for your friendship and support. And to the incredible team at Kensington, starting with editor extraordinaire John Scognamiglio; the whole publicity team, including Vida Engstrand, Larissa Ackerman, and Lauren Jerningan; Darla Freeman and the whole sales team; Lou Malcangi, for his stunning cover designs; and Steve Zacharius, Lynn Cully, Tracy Marx, Robin Cook, and everyone else behind the scenes. I couldn’t ask for a better publishing team.
To Betty, Jack, Christine, and Chester; to all of the Hills and the Rowells; to the Starrs, Maroldas and Sullivans (and especially to Bob and Christine) thank you for your continued support.
To Edith Ann for putting up with endless walks and belly rubs during the pandemic (follow her on Instagram!@edithannlab).
I wrote this novel as a love letter to Hester’s ever-patient partner, the kind and compassionate Morgan Maguire. I hope he got his due. And I offer a special shout-out to my own patient partner, Michael, to whom I dedicate this book. None of this happens without your continued love and support. Thank you!
Finally, to anyone who takes a chance on this book, thank you a million times over. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. Please be in touch!
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @edwinhillauthor.