Many thanks are due to Alexandra Machinist and Esther Newberg and the Estate of Robert B. Parker for giving me the chance to follow in the footsteps of Robert B. Parker, the dean himself. I’ve been reading him since high school, and I hope I did right by his legacy here. Thanks as well to Ben H. Winters, who read an early draft of the manuscript and, as always, gave invaluable advice. And finally, thank you to Tarini Sipahimalani and the entire team at Putnam for their effort and support.