ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks go to Leslie Hindman, who, with her team at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, continues to appraise antiques for me to write about. Please note that any errors are mine alone.

Thanks to Christopher Kerezsi for helping me sort through the legal implications of finders-keepers, to Sheila York for listening to my early plans for the book, and to Katie Longhurst for her careful reading of the manuscript.

As a former Mystery Writers of America/New York chapter president and the chair of the Wolfe Pack’s literary awards, I’ve been fortunate to meet and work alongside dozens of talented writers and dedicated readers. Thank you all for your support. For my pals in the Wolfe Pack and fans of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe stories everywhere, I’ve added my usual allotment of Wolfean trivia to this book.

Thank you to Jo-Ann Maude, Christine and Al de los Reyes, and Carol Novak. Thank you also to Dan and Linda Chessman, Marci and James Gleason, John and Mona Gleason, Linda and Ren Plastina, Rona and Ken Foster, Liz Weiner and Bob Farrar, Meredith Anthony and Larry Light, and Wendy Corsi Staub and Mark Staub. Thanks also to Harry Rinker for his invaluable assistance about antiques.

Independent booksellers have been invaluable in helping me introduce Josie to their customers—thank you all. I want to acknowledge my special friends at these independent bookshops: Partners and Crime, Front Street Books, The Poisoned Pen, Well Red Coyote, Clues Unlimited, Mostly Books, Mysteries to Die For, Book’em Mysteries, Legends, Book Carnival, Mysterious Galaxy, M is for Mystery, Murder by the Book in Houston, where David Thompson will be forever missed. Manhattan’s Black Orchid Bookstore is also still sorely missed; I remain grateful to Bonnie Claeson and Joe Guglielmelli for helping launch Josie. Thanks also to Murder by the Book in Denver, Murder by the Book in Portland, Schuler Books, The Regulator, McIntyre’s, Quail Ridge Books, Book Cove, Remember the Alibi Mystery Bookstore, Centuries & Sleuths, Mystery Lovers Bookshop, The Mystery Company, The Mysterious Bookshop, Booked for Murder, Aunt Agatha’s, Foul Play, Windows a Bookshop, Murder by the Beach, Books & Books, Moore Books, The Bookstore in the Grove, Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore, Seattle Mystery Bookstore, Park Road Books, and Once Upon a Crime. Thanks again to Linda and Bobby from the now-gone Mystery Bookstore in Los Angeles. Many chain bookstores have been incredibly supportive as well—thank you to those many booksellers who’ve gone out of their way to become familiar with Josie.

Thanks also to the Jane Austen Society of North America, Linda Landigran of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Barbara Floyd of The Country Register, and Wilda W. Williams of Library Journal. Special thanks also to Molly Weston and Jen Forbus. Thank you as well to The Samaritans of New York, a wonderful organization dedicated to suicide prevention with whom I’ve been affliated for more than fifteen years.

Special thanks to my librarian friends David S. Ferriero, Doris Ann Norris, Sally Fellows, Mary Russell, Denise Van Zanten, Mary Callahan Boone, with whom I share a love of theater, Cynde Bloom Lahey, Cyndi Rademacher, Eleanor Ratterman, Jane Murphy, Eileen Sheridan, Jennifer Vido, Judith Abner, Karen Kiley, Lesa Holstine, Monique Flasch, Susie Schachte, Virginia Sanchez, Maxine Bleiweis, Cindy Clark, Linda Avellar, Heidi Fowler, Georgia Owens, Eva Perry, Mary J. Etter, Paul Schroeder, Tracy J. Wright, Kristi Calhoun Belesca, Paulette Sullivan, Frances Mendelsohn, Deborah Hirsch, Sharon Redfern, and Heather Caines.

Thank you to my literary agent emerita, Denise Marcil. I remain grateful for her support and encouragement. Special thanks go to my fabulous literary agent, Cristina Concepcion of Don Congdon Associates, Inc. Thank you to Michael Congdon, Katie Kotchman, and Katie Grimm as well.

My editor, Minotaur Books’ executive editor, Hope Dellon, continues to provide insightful feedback about the manuscript. Special thanks also go to Silissa Kenney, editorial assistant, for her thoughtful comments. I’m indebted to them, and to the entire Minotaur Books’ team. Thank you also to those I work with most often, Andy Martin, Hector DeJean, Sarah Melnyk, and Talia Ross, as well as those behind the scene, including my copy editor, India Cooper, and my cover designer, David Baldeosingh Rotstein.