The Whole Truth

Acknowledgements

This was the book that got finished during lockdown, in that strange period of half-life that should have made concentrating easier but somehow didn’t. It’s been a year of upheavals for everyone, including the publishing industry, but ‘Team Fawley’ has kept going throughout, adapting to circumstances, experimenting with new approaches, and basically just getting on with it and refusing to be defeated. So even though I thank them with every book, they deserve it more than ever this time. My fabulous editor Katy Loftus, and the whole Penguin Viking team – Jane Gentle, Olivia Mead, Ellie Hudson, Georgia Taylor and Vikki Moynes. My exceptional agent Anna Power, and Hélène Butler, also at Johnson & Alcock, who’s now taken the number of overseas editions to twenty-five. My copyeditor Karen Whitlock, and the whole production team at Penguin, led by Emma Brown. Jessica Barnfield and the team at Penguin audiobooks, as well – of course – as Lee Ingleby and Emma Cunniffe for doing such a fabulous job as narrators. Julia Connolly, who developed the new cover design, which has really taken the look of the books to the next level. And, last but not least, the dedicated crime-lovers at Dead Good for their support.

My ‘pro team’ have again been superb – DI Andy Thompson, Joey Giddings, Nicholas Syfret QC, and a new member of the team, Dr Paul Zollinger-Read. None of the books would have been the same without their professional know-how, and their tireless willingness to share it. Any inaccuracies that remain are mine alone.

Thank you also to my ‘early readers’, whose insights and suggestions made a huge difference in the final stages – probably more so this time than in previous books: my husband Simon, Sarah Wall, Stephen Gill, Richard Croker, Deborah Woudhuysen, Andrew Weltch, Peter Croxford, Elizabeth Price, Neera Gajjar, Stuart Fletcher and Trish Fletcher.

One of the many things I’ve missed this year has been meeting up with both readers and other authors at festivals and bookshop events. Here’s to a more sociable 2021, and in the meantime I’d like to thank some of my fellow writers for their support and encouragement, especially online: Ian Rankin, Shari Lapena, John Marrs, JP Delaney and Simon Lelic.

One more special thank-you for this book in particular. I listened to a lot of true-crime podcasts as I was doing the research; partly for fun, of course, but also to get the right tone and style for The Whole Truth episodes in the book. One of the best was Shreds, made by the BBC’s Ceri Jackson. She was kind enough to do an interview with me for my newsletter, and also to share the layout typically used in podcast scripts (and you all know what a nerd I am about that sort of thing!).

And finally, you may have picked up in the news that we have now sold the TV rights to the series to Castlefield TV, part of the Fremantle group. They’re a fabulous production company and it’s been a genuine dream-come-true moment. I can’t wait to see what they make of the books. And, of course, who they cast …