After I'm Gone

Author’s Note

Almost every writer I know dreads the moment when someone tries to give you an idea. It’s not that the ideas are bad, just that the relationship between writer and novel is so personal that it’s a little like someone trying to play matchmaker for a happily married person.

But my husband, David Simon, was adamant that I should write a novel inspired by Julius Salsbury, the head of a large gambling operation in Baltimore into the 1970s. Convicted of mail fraud and under house arrest while he appealed his sentence, he disappeared never to be seen again. He left behind a wife, three daughters, and a girlfriend.

I think my husband, who is still a journalist at heart, thought a crime writer could solve the mystery of what happened to Salsbury. But I am not particularly interested in real stories. I found myself fascinated by the idea of the five women left behind. What is a wife without her husband, daughters without a father, a mistress without her lover? I turned it into a crime story because that’s what I do, but it’s important to stress here that there was no murder case in real life. So beyond the setup, the Brewer family has nothing to do with the Salsbury family. It would be unfair to them to infer otherwise-and also unfair to my imagination.

The character of Roberto “Sandy” Sanchez was inspired by Donald Worden. Their personal histories could not be more dissimilar, but Worden is one of the great geniuses of homicide detection and he did return, for a time, to work cold cases for the Baltimore City Police Department. He was generous with his time and information while I worked on this book.

A chance meeting in San Francisco in August 2012 provided me with a lot of information about the social hierarchy at Forest Park High School in the 1950s. Alas, I lost my informant’s name, but she was wonderfully helpful.

I would hope that everyone at William Morrow and HarperCollins knows of my devotion, but just in case-thank you to Carrie Feron, Liate Stehlik, Michael Morrison, Lynn Grady, Sharyn Rosenblum, Tessa Woodward, and, well, everybody. I’d also like to welcome Nicole Fischer and Abigail Tyson to the fold.

Thanks also to Vicky Bijur and A. M. Chaplin. A shout-out to the baristas who keep me caffeinated in two cities, and all my family and friends who are extraordinarily tolerant of the things I don’t get done while on deadline. Sara Kiehne and Dana Rashidi do what they can to take the dysfunction out of our household. David, Ethan, and Georgia Rae are responsible for putting the fun in and they all do a great job. Georgia Rae is increasingly tolerant of her mother’s work now that she understands the age-old concept: work = money = candy.

Finally, thanks to the FLs of FB. You know who you are. You know what you did. Please keep a leash on those dang squirrels and stop being such instigators.