I’d like to thank the village of East Aurora (yes, it’s a real place) for their patience while I repopulated their town with people of my own imagination—some of them victims and killers. I plead guilty to wreaking havoc on the geography, but hopefully I kept all the cozy charm.
Of course, I’d like to thank Matthew Martz at Crooked Lane for taking a chance on what was, when he saw it, still a pretty rough draft. And thanks to Sarah Poppe, the copyeditors, cover artist, and the whole team there for helping make all this happen.
And a special thanks to my family and friends, who seem to instinctively know when I need to be left alone to work and when I need to be kidnapped for an evening of pizza and board games. (Set it up; I’ll be there in a minute.)
Finally, I’d like to thank you. You picked up my book and got to this point. Nothing makes the writing process more rewarding than meeting a total stranger who says, “I read your book!” I’d like to think the hours we’ve spent together have made us friends. And as E. B. White said, “That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
Death of a Toy Soldier Page 24