I also needed specialist help with the court scenes, and criminal lawyer Cheryl Dudley’s guidance was vital. Thank you, Steve Rodgers for recommending her. Together with Jane Britton, Steve was also good enough to spend New Year’s Day listening to my ideas for this story and making valuable suggestions. It helps that he is a judge, I suppose!
Colin Lawry at Truro Crown Court was so accommodating and informative, as was David Earl, whose technical knowledge can always be relied on for accuracy.
One very special person who never lets me down is my agent, Lizzy Kremer. Together with the whole team at David Higham Associates she has supported me on this journey and offered encouragement and invaluable advice. I genuinely couldn’t have done this without her. Harriet Moore, Olivia Barber and Clare Bowron also gave wonderful editorial input.
I have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and expertise of the my UK publishing team at Wildfire, particularly Kate Stephenson, Alex Clarke and Ella Gordon, and the wider Headline team – including Becky Hunter, Jo Liddiard, Caroline Young, Louise Rothwell and Becky Bader – are a joy to work with.
My special thanks to Tish McPhilemy who joined me three years ago to look after the necessary administration involved in being an author, but who now does so much more – including making me laugh when things don’t go to plan and providing me with inspiration in so many ways.
My readers are incredible and always so very supportive. There’s nothing I like better than attending events where I can thank some of them in person for their encouragement and enthusiasm, and I love the way they are happy to chat on social media and talk about some of my characters as if they are old friends. So thank you to readers and the amazing bloggers who have taken the time to read and review my books. There are too many to mention!
Finally, I couldn’t do any of it without the support of my family – especially John, who makes sure I am fed and watered when I can’t think of anything that exists outside the world of my imagination, and who listens – with apparent interest – when I talk about a group of people who I know so well but who he will never get to meet, other than on the pages of my book. That takes a special kind of person.
And So It Begins Page 31