Walls within Walls

by Maureen Sherry

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There were many collaborators and cheerleaders for this book but none as enthusiastic as my editor, Katherine Tegen. She has an ear for a good tale, an eye for architecture, and a mind open enough to hear a wacky idea through. To her the biggest thank-you.

  To my mother, Kathleen Sherry, whose years as a Harlem public school teacher left her duly qualified to pinpoint what works and doesn’t work for this age group. Her husband, Hugh Boylan, was tireless in his encouragement, as were Bill Klinsky and Toby Shapiro.

  To my enthusiastic girls of summer who often found themselves with one or more of my own children at any given stage of this process: Nancy Hebert, Adele Malpass, Aripcy Salazar, Elizabeth Dennis, Melissa Fleming, Meng Khu Gurung, Brenda Earl, Amy Goodfriend, Katie Shah, and, of course, Carron Sherry.

  To Mr. Demeny’s fifth-grade field trips, packed with information about New York, and my children’s friends, who never seemed to mind me eavesdropping on the banter. You all gave me so much material. Specific thanks to the Cassidy, Hogan, Hebert, Shah, and Koepke kids, the second-grade Narnia boys, and fifth-grade tennis girls. I could listen to you talk among yourselves forever.

  For artistic ideas and direction I’d like to thank Eric Clough and 212Box, Heather Bensko, Amy Ryan, Matt Klam, Sarah Salovaara, Hollie Chantiles, Roxann Couloucoundis, the Hillwood Museum, and the Smithfork Ranch.

  To Laura Mandarano, in a class by herself.

  And last, my greatest thanks goes to the people who inspire me the most: Cavan, Kiera, Owen, and Ella, the real Smithforks.

  B EHOX RHN YTLMXK

  About the Author

  MAUREEN SHERRY graduated with a BS from Cornell University and worked on Wall Street for twelve years. She went on to receive an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. Several years ago, she and her family moved into a historic apartment, where she found herself wondering about the family living there before them. She added to the history of the apartment by embedding, with the help of an architect, a mystery that would eventually be solved by her children. The apartment and her four children are the real-world inspiration for this book.

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  Credits

  Jacket art © 2010 by Adam Stower

  Jacket design by Joel Tippie

  Copyright

  WALLS WITHIN WALLS. Copyright © 2010 by Maureen Sherry. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Sherry, Maureen.

  Walls within walls / Maureen Sherry; illustrated by Adam Stower.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: When the Smithfork family moves into a lavish Manhattan apartment building, they discover clues to a decades-old mystery hidden behind the walls of their new home.

  ISBN 978-0-06-176700-5 (trade bdg.)

  [1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 3. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.] I. Stower, Adam, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.S5494Wal 2010 2010009494

  [Fic]—dc22 CIP

  AC

  FIRST EDITION

  EPub Edition © July 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-201111-4

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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