Once again, I must begin by thanking you, the reader. Thank you for investing your time in this story, these characters, this strange and unsettling family. Special thanks to the bookstagrammers, bloggers, librarians, and booksellers who passionately—and tirelessly—strive to connect readers with books. I’m sure I speak on behalf of all authors when I say that the work you do is invaluable to us.
Thank you to the best of all agents, Sharon Pelletier, whose storytelling instincts and editorial feedback are unparalleled—except by my editor, Kaitlin Olson, whose insightful suggestions and questions always open up new layers of my own story to me. Book by book, these smart, kickass women have made me a better writer, and I am so lucky to have this opportunity to work with them.
Thank you so much to everyone at Atria Books, especially Megan Rudloff, Isabel DaSilva, and @AtriaMysteryBus mastermind David Brown, all of whom are behind-the-scenes literary rock stars. Thank you to editorial assistant Jade Hui, copyeditor Laurie McGee, and huge thanks as well to designer Kelli McAdams and art director Jimmy Iacobelli for creating what is truly the cover of my dreams.
A grateful tip of the hat to the late Frances Glessner Lee, whose “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Deaths” inspired Tate’s crime scene dioramas. I first learned about Lee in Rachel Monroe’s excellent book, Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession, which also informed many of the ideas about true crime that I explored in this novel.
Much gratitude to Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff, the hosts of the podcast My Favorite Murder, without which I would have never found my way to writing this book. Georgia and Karen continually create a safe space for weirdos like me who have a fascination with murder, and they never lose sight of the fact that it’s the victims, not the killers, that deserve to be remembered.
Thank you to the incredible writers who have supported me over the last couple years, whether it be through blurbing my books, helping me brainstorm, or just offering me a space in which to scream and/or rejoice. Special thanks to Amina Akhtar, Andrea Bartz, Samantha Downing, Meghan Evans, Layne Fargo, Wendy Heard, Christina McDonald, Mindy Mejia, Megan Miranda, Maureen O’Brien, Daniela Petrova, and Wendy Walker.
Thank you to my friends for your continual support and enthusiasm; for group texts that make me laugh and keep me sane; for perfectly timed Taylor Swift gifs; for promoting my books to your book clubs; and, to two of you in particular, for choosing my book as the “one book you’ll read all year.”
Thank you to my very supportive family (aunts! uncles! cousins!), and thanks in particular to my brother-in-law, Greg, who always has thoughtful words to say about my stories; my sister, Kate, who uses her adorable dogs to help spread the word about my books; and to my parents, who, three books in, continue to be my most excited cheerleaders.
Finally, thank you to my dog, Maisy, for all the cuteness and cuddles (which are essential to my writing process), and to my husband, Marc, who is the most helpful and hilarious human on earth, and who ultimately inspired this book. He first suggested The Family Plot as a title for a different novel I was working on, one that stubbornly refused to be named. “No, that doesn’t work at all,” I told him, “but that is a great title.” Then I scrapped that other novel and wrote this one instead.