Bird's-Eye View
Page 42
The St. Mary’s County Chamber of Commerce helped me regarding local customs and life in the southern Maryland area of the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
Stephen Harrigan escorted me around Austin, Texas, particularly the University of Texas. He also read and corrected the sections in this book about the university, as well as those sections that take place in the Hill Country of Texas.
Stephen Semple, the photography teacher at the Cate School in Carpinteria, California, assisted me in the areas of photography and computer-imaging information.
William A. Graham advised me in matters regarding sailing, big fancy sailboats, and custom-made shotguns.
Lynn McLaren, Licensed Investigator, helped with the nuts and bolts and protocols of private detective work.
Carol Warner read this book numerous times and gave me wonderful notes, particularly regarding style and grammar.
Susannah Freedman came up with the title.
Bob Lescher, my agent, was a great cheerleader, and also, as he always does, had many helpful comments about the manuscript during all stages of its development.
Lastly—I am very appreciative of the support given me by all the people at Warner Books, particularly Larry Kirshbaum and Jaime Raab. I am looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with them. My editor, Maggie Crawford, painstakingly went through several drafts of this work with me, chapter by chapter, page by page, paragraph by paragraph, line by line, word by word, to make sure that I was as true to my vision as I could be, and that this book was as good as I could write it. That is the best gift an editor can give an author, and for that, as well as her commitment to the book and to me as a writer, I am deeply thankful.