Some superstitious people think that life works according to the ‘third time lucky’ rule. I don’t know if they are right, but it has seemed to be the case for me with this book, Killing Time. The process of creating my first two books was gruelling, but the road to this one has, thankfully, been much smoother. Of course, that is partly due to the subject matter but also because I have learned a bit about myself over the last six years and about publishing.
Just because I now know more about the writing process doesn’t mean that I’ve needed the great team of people I had behind me last time any less. On the contrary, I think we worked together even harder to bring these stories to you. Everyone needs a great team behind them, and I would like to thank mine. I have definitely been lucky on this third book to have had their help.
Helen Littleton, my publisher at HarperCollins, has been my champion. She was the first person in the company to take a leap of faith and trust that I could actually write something worth reading, and I am so grateful for her unswerving belief. If you like any of my books, thank her; if you don’t, blame me.
This time around Scott Forbes stepped into the editor’s hot seat, having helped on the other two books, particularly with my Scottish dialogue. He’d been invaluable as we’d scrambled to get those books off to the presses several weeks after the absolutely final deadline. His calm and clever suggestions as the chapters of this book came together definitely kept me on track and helped me actually meet my deadline this time. Thanks, Scott.
Mark Campbell did the cover and internals. Fiona Luke did all the pre-press work on the pictures and cover, and Janelle Garside organised the printing, which must surely have been much less of a headache this time. Thanks to each of you. Pam Dunne and Nicola Young did the proofreading – I guess this is a good place to apologise for my spelling mistakes and typos!
Special mention to Graeme Jones, our gun typesetter, whom I neglected to credit on the two previous books. Maybe there is something to ‘third time lucky’ after all.
Alice Wood and Georgia Williams helped us spread the word about these words, so thanks to both of you, as well as Kathy Lipari, Justin Lees, the legendary Kathy McCabe and the rest of the HarperCollins team who’ve helped us draw extra attention to this book.
Closer to home, I would like to acknowledge and thank my great friend and manager John Watson for the countless phone calls he took to answer the millions of questions I needed answering as I wrote this book. I could not have done it without you, my friend. And, to his children, who have had to put up with me encouraging his endless dad jokes: sorry, kids.
Rina Ferris, my publicist of several years, deserves a special mention too. Actually she deserves more than that. Maybe a medal. Her faith and friendship are always appreciated by Jane and me. Thanks also to Warren Costello at my record company, Bloodlines, who helped with photos and other matters with his trademark combination of diligence and decency. Love you, Warren.
My nephew Jesse Lizotte took the cover photo. Despite my scowl in that picture, I’m actually always happy to see Jesse with a camera in his hand because it means he is about to come up with something great.
Most of all, I need to thank my family. The stories in this book would not have happened without them – the fact that so many of these chapters revolve around my Jane and the kids shows that they have always been the eye of my cyclone. When the world was spinning so fast that I thought I would slip and fall off forever, they were always there holding me down and keeping me safe. I love you, guys. Jane, you are my angel. My light. My love. My girl.
Some of the stories in Killing Time were written during the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to plague the planet as this book goes off to print. The necessary shutdowns have hurt a lot of people – many of whom were hurting already – so, understandably, most people won’t look back fondly on this strange year. But the enforced time at home surrounded by my Jane, my kids and my grandkids has actually felt like a blessing to me.
With each book I’ve become more aware of how fortunate I am to have people who are actually willing to read my stuff. So, last but not least, a huge thanks to you, my readers, for making this possible. The process of writing these three books hasn’t just helped me kill time during a pandemic but has also helped me make sense of both the world and myself.
Third time lucky.
Jimmy