Acknowledgments

Writing this book has been an amazing adventure, and I have many people to thank for that. When I first met several of these people, the meetings truly felt like divine appointments, and I am so grateful to the Lord for his blessings.

I’d like to thank Beth Adams for urging me to expand my idea from a single story into a series. That process made the town and people of Port Aster come alive to me in wonderful and unanticipated ways.

Thank you to Wenda Dottridge, Laurie Benner, Vicki McCollum, and Susan May Warren for their insightful suggestions at the critiquing stage.

Thank you to the NRP officers who answered all my police questions, and some I forgot to ask.

Thank you to my daughter Christine for opening the world of horticulture to me through her expertise and experience.

Thank you to Joyce Hart for continuing to believe in this series when I was ready to leave it to warm a drawer.

Thank you to Nancy and Manuela for sharing herbal remedies that inspired fun twists in the plot.

Thank you to the awesome team at Revell, especially to my editor Vicki Crumpton for championing the story; to Vicki, Wendy Wetzel, and the proofreaders for helping me polish it until it shined; to Twila Bennett, Cheryl Van Andel, and the art department for their awesome work on the cover; to Michele Misiak for answering all my questions; and to the awesome marketing departments both at Revell and at David C. Cook here in Canada.

Thank you to my family for their incredible support.

And most of all, thank you to you, my readers. With more books than ever vying for your time these days, I feel truly honored that you chose to spend a few hours reading Deadly Devotion.