A Steep Price (The Tracy Crosswhite Series Book 6)

by Robert Dugoni

  As with all the novels in the Tracy Crosswhite series, I simply could not write them without the help of Jennifer Southworth, Seattle Police Department, Violent Crimes Section, and Scott Tompkins, King County Sheriff’s Office, Major Crimes Unit.

  My thanks also to Kathy Taylor, forensic anthropologist, King County Medical Examiner’s Office. Her tutelage continues to inspire me. Thanks also to Kathy Decker, former search-and-rescue coordinator of the King County Sheriff’s Office and well-known sign-cutter and man-tracker. Kathy has assisted me with multiple novels and I’m fortunate to have access to her wealth of knowledge.

  Thanks to Meg Ruley, Rebecca Scherer, and the team at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. Much like a marriage, they’ve stuck by me in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer, and, I hope, all the days of my writing life. They do so much for me. I just can’t say thanks enough.

  Thanks to Thomas & Mercer. This is book six in the Tracy Crosswhite series and my seventh novel with the Thomas & Mercer team, and they continue to promote novels one through seven just as hard as they did on the days those novels were launched. I’ve said this before. They’ve changed my professional life and the lives of my family. I am so very grateful for all they have done and continue to do for me. They’ve put my books into the hands of millions of readers—which is all any author wants. Beyond that, they recently donated three hundred copies of my novel My Sister’s Grave to an autism fund-raising dinner in Los Angeles to assist in the struggle to help those in need. Their generosity was humbling.

  Thanks to Sarah Shaw, author relations, who always greets me with a smile on her face and something special for me and my family. Thank you for always brightening my day.

  Thanks to Sean Baker, head of production; Laura Barrett, production manager; and Oisin O’Malley, art director. I’ve also said this before. I love the covers and the titles of each of my novels and I have them to thank. Thanks to Dennelle Catlett, Amazon Publishing PR, for all the work promoting me and my novels. Dennelle takes care of me whenever I’m traveling and it always feels like first-class. Thanks to the marketing team, Gabrielle Guarnero, Laura Costantino, and Kyla Pigoni. Thanks to publisher Mikyla Bruder, associate publisher Galen Maynard, and Jeff Belle, vice president of Amazon Publishing.

  Special thanks to Thomas & Mercer’s editorial director, Gracie Doyle. She is with me from the concept to the final written novel, always with ideas on how to make the novel better. She pushes me to write the best novels I can, and I’m so very lucky to have her on my team.

  Thank you to Charlotte Herscher, developmental editor. This is book eight together and may have been the hardest to write and to edit. She stuck with me, pushed me to make necessary changes, and helped me to polish the novel into something I’m very proud of. Thanks to Scott Calamar, copyeditor. When you recognize a weakness it is a wonderful thing—because then you can ask for help.

  Thanks to Tami Taylor, who runs my website, creates my newsletters, and generates some of my foreign-language book covers. Thanks to Pam Binder and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association for their support of my work. Thanks to Seattle 7 Writers, a nonprofit collective of Pacific Northwest authors who foster and support the written word.

  Thanks to all of you, the readers, for finding my novels and for your incredible support of my work. Thanks for posting your reviews and for e-mailing me to let me know you’ve enjoyed my novels.

  Thank you to my wife, Cristina, and my two children, Joe and Catherine. I’m looking forward to our next great travel adventure.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2017 Jeremy Rice

  Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series, including My Sister’s Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, The Trapped Girl, and Close to Home. The Crosswhite Series has sold more than 2,500,000 books worldwide, and My Sister’s Grave has been optioned for television series development. Dugoni is also the author of the bestselling David Sloane series, which includes The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One, and The Conviction; the stand-alone novels The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, The 7th Canon, and Damage Control; and the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year; as well as several short stories. He is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel in the Pacific Northwest. He is a two-time finalist for both the International Thriller Award and the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and has been nominated for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award. His books are sold worldwide in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than two dozen languages, including French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com, and follow him on Twitter @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni.