I thank Luciana Ricciutelli, my extraordinary publisher and editor. Thank you, Luciana, for polishing my prose and for always encouraging and supporting me. I really cannot describe how much you mean to me, nor can I thank you enough for having enriched my life in the many ways that you have, and for making all my writing dreams come true. That my words reach the world is all thanks to Luciana and the wonderful team at my Inanna family.
To Bradford Dunlop, thank you for having the patience of a saint and for reading (and rereading) draft after draft after draft, and for bearing with me through title options and opening lines — the words “Sixteen strangers…” will live with us forever!
I thank Doug O’Neill, Dorothy McIntosh, Liz Bugg, Brenda Missen, Joan O’Callaghan, Alexander Galant, Terri Favro, Rob Brunet, Brenda Hammond and Bianca Marais for their wonderful blurbs and endorsements, and for all their words of encouragement and support along the way.
Thanks to the always-inspiring Liz Worth for supporting this book, as well as Rosemary McCracken, Mandy Eve Barnett and Mayank Bhatt.
I thank my family who have believed in this book wholeheartedly, right from the fledgling idea. Dad, like I say, this one’s for you. Thank you to my generous and kind extended family, my Dunlop/ Abrams/ Looney/Bradley/Johnson family, thank you for all your support too, you are simply wonderful.
I thank all my friends at the Crime Writers of Canada, the Sisters in Crime and the Mesdames of Mayhem, as well as all the talented authors and readers I meet online and in person at the various launches, readings and publishing events; writers who make up the incredibly rich fabric of the Canadian Literary world. The breadth of talent is inspiring and the camraderie and support such a joy. Thank you to the hosts of reading series such a Plasticine Poetry, ChiZine Reading Series, Makin’ a Racket At the Red Rocket and all the other avenues where we get to showcase our work.
The Toronto Public Library is fantastic in helping authors and we owe them all a heartfelt thanks. In particular, Pam Mountain of the Annette Street Branch is such a great supporter, and I value our friendship that has grown over the years.
A big thanks to a lovely writer with a keen eye for art, without whom we would not have the beautiful cover art for this book: Dawn Promislow. Dawn found a rare book with artwork by Wopko Jensma which in turn led me to this artwork. A huge thanks to Dawn for this.
I’d like to thank GAP Adventure Tours for the journey I took with them in December 2007, from Cape Town across Namibia. I wrote the first draft of the book in 2008, and while I used carefully documented travel details in the novel, it is important to note that none of the characters on the trip served as inspiration for the characters in The Witchdoctor’s Bones, except for Jonna Nummela who knows that she was a muse (and friend!) to me. The GAP Adventure holiday was an excellent vacation, offering none of the madness and drama in the book and my fellow travellers were all delightful.
It is always sad to acknowledge friends who have left us and there is one in particular who is very sorely missed: Anne Redpath. Anne, you are dearly missed but your wonderful spirit shines strongly and I hope you will be proud of this book.
Thanks to Cathy Douwes for an accurate and respectful simulation of witchdoctor’s bones.
And finally, the most important thank you goes to the readers. Without readers, all this effort and passion would be in vain, so thank you, for reading.