Always Watching

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to start by thanking my readers around the world for their support and encouragement. I truly appreciate all the great e-mails you send me and love staying in touch on Facebook and Twitter. This can be a lonely job, with hours at the keyboard, so it’s nice to feel a connection with the people who are actually reading my stories, and not just the characters who are walking around in my head.

Every writer also knows how important it is to have good resources—we are lost without them. Again, I was very fortunate to find some great people willing to share their time and knowledge with me, even when I swore I just had “one more question.” In no particular order: Stephanie Paddle, Dr. Jane Saunders, Virginia Reimer, Constable J. Moffat, Sergeant R. Webb, Mark Tucker, Jonathan Hayes, Ken Langelier, Marcia Koenig with the King Country Search Dogs, The Victoria Cool Aid Society, Deborah Gunnarsen, Lisa Winstanley, Steve Unischewski, Sylvia (Murphy) Unischewski, Don Godolphin, Nina Evans-Locke, and Lori Treloar. Any mistakes are mine.

A special thanks to Tamara Poppitt of Poppy Photography, who spent a couple of days with me traipsing around Victoria and Shawnigan Lake and taking photos of all the locations in the book.

I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Carla Buckley, a fabulous critique partner and friend, who weathers the storms with me, and who also shares my passion for snacks—both very important attributes. Again, I’d like to thank Renni Browne and Shannon Roberts for their insightful feedback.

Mel Berger, my brilliant and wise agent, deserves a big thank-you for always being there, encouraging me, and best of all, making me laugh.

I am so grateful to my editor, Jen Enderlin, who pushes me to dig deeper and reach higher, even when I’m grumbling and resisting all the way. Thanks to the rest of the fantastic group at St. Martin’s Press: Sally Richardson, Lisa Senz, Sarah Goldstein, Sara Goodman, Loren Jaggers, Matthew Shear, and the entire Broadway and Fifth Avenue sales forces. In Canada, thanks to Raincoast Books for supporting me on the home front. I’d also like to thank my foreign publishers, who share my stories around the world.

My endless appreciation to my husband, Connel, who is with me through every up and down, and who also makes it all worth it. To Annie, my beloved dog, who started the book with me, but didn’t get to see it end. I know she’s still watching over me. And to little Oona, who joined our family and has inherited the task of dragging me away from my keyboard to get some fresh air once in a while, so I don’t turn into a lump. A special thanks to my friends and family for their constant support and understanding, especially when I’m nose to the grindstone, trying to meet a deadline.