My favorite quote about writing comes from Sinclair Lewis, who remembered being taught, by Mary Heaton Vorse, “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” I spend long hours hunkered over my keyboard, flicking away. But I keep asking people for help and, to my surprise, they keep helping me.
Librarians and curators are simply the best. Especially helpful were Nancy Kervin at the U.S. Senate Library, Jerry McCoy at the Washingtoniana collection at the DC Library, and Don Warfield and his colleagues at the local history section of the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Deborah Capeless, Berkshire County’s clerk of courts, kindly showed me the room where the 1902 inquest took place. Susan Sarna, the curator at Sagamore Hill, couldn’t have been more obliging in answering my queries and suggesting books to read. The Library of Congress, with its incredible holdings and resourceful librarians, is one of the rare government agencies that truly work.
Nonlibrarians were nicer still. Jim Hewes, the longtime bartender at the Willard’s Round Robin Bar, was a font of knowledge about the hotel’s glorious history. Mark Bergin, a retired policeman in Alexandria, Virginia, advised me on police procedures and on the sound and smell of gunfire. Paul Rosenberg suggested which guns to use. Other friends who helped include Bill O’Brian, Jim Brisbois, Harry Katz, Dan Shapiro, Mark Iwry, Tim Wendel, Glenn Davidson, and Dennis Quinn. I’m beholden to books about TR by Edmund Morris, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David McCullough, Edward J. Renehan Jr., Louis Auchincloss, Jerome Charyn, Owen Wister, and Roosevelt himself for illuminating a complicated man. I found John Taliaferro’s All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt invaluable in understanding my detective.
Tom O’Malley, chairman of the Treasury Historical Association, was a detective himself in tracking down the Secret Service chief’s 1902-era office; the Treasury Department’s Melissa Moye generously arranged a tour. Richard Grimmett tutored me on the history of Saint John’s Church. National Park Service rangers—Geraldine Hawkins at TR’s birthplace in Manhattan and Bradley A. Krueger at Theodore Roosevelt Island in DC—answered every question I could think of. Thanks also to Eric Madison at the National Capital Trolley Museum in Colesville, Maryland, and to Jill Reichenbach at the New-York Historical Society. Julie Smith, my “mentor” at the Mystery Writers of America, helped me anticipate, and I hope skirt, the pitfalls of writing a sequel.
At Macmillan’s Tor/Forge, I can’t thank Claire Eddy enough for her graceful and perceptive editing. Her assistant, Kristin Temple, has been a pleasure to work with. Kudos again to my agent, Ron Goldfarb, as well as Gerrie Sturman, for their legal—and moral—support.
Which brings me to the people who matter the most. I am incredibly fortunate (not to jinx anything) to have both of my children, Anna and Matt, living nearby, with their wonderful spouses, Jasyn and Cat, and two amazing little boys, Nolan and Jack, who run in opposite directions. As always, my greatest—and gravest—thanks goes to my wife, Nancy Tuholski, who keeps getting lovelier.