Питер Джеймс - Left You Dead

A very special thank you also to my mentor Geoff Duffield, my amazing editor Wayne Brookes, and the team at Pan Macmillan — to name just a few: Sarah Arratoon, Jonathan Atkins, Lara Borlenghi, Emily Bromfield, Stuart Dwyer, Claire Evans, Samantha Fletcher, Anthony Forbes Watson, Elle Gibbons, Hollie Iglesias, Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Kellaway, Neil Lang, Rebecca Lloyd, Sara Lloyd, James Long, James Luscombe, Holly Martin, Rory O’Brien, Guy Raphael, Alex Saunders, Jade Tolley, Jeremy Trevathan, Toby Watson, Charlotte Williams and Leanne Williams. And my brilliant structural editor Susan Opie.

Thanks also to everyone at my fabulous UK literary agency, Blake Friedmann: Lizzy Attree, Isobel Dixon, Sian Ellis-Martin, Julian Friedmann, Hana Murrell, James Pusey, Daisy Way and Conrad Williams. My US agent, Mitch Hoffman, at the Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency. And a big shout-out to my fabulously gifted UK PR team at Riot Communications: Caitlin Allen, Preena Gadher and Emily Souders.

While writing is a lonely job, I have an amazing support team around me. I’m blessed with two incredibly hardworking people — my wife Lara and former Detective Chief Superintendent David Gaylor — who head up Team James. The other invaluable members of the team are: Sue Ansell, Kate Blazeby, Dani Brown, Erin Brown, Chris Diplock, Jane Diplock, Martin Diplock, Lyn Gaylor, James Hodge, Sarah Middle, Amy Robinson, Mark Tuckwell and Chris Webb.

David Gaylor not only has the patience of a saint, in answering my queries about policing and other aspects of my stories at any time of the day or night; he also has an incredibly creative mind, and contributes so much to every aspect of my novels, and now to the Grace TV series also. I owe him enormous thanks. I’m extremely excited about this series: the scripts by Russell Lewis, based on the novels, are brilliant and the cast, headed by John Simm as Roy Grace and Richie Campbell as Glenn Branson, are more than I could ever have wished for.

And my most special thanks of all are reserved for my beloved wife. I’ve always believed that, while novels are above all stories, they are also so much about how they make you feel. Lara is incredibly in tune with that, and gives me vital help with the emotions of my characters, as well as the storylines and with every aspect of our lives. She has also been of immense help with so many aspects of the Roy Grace TV series.

Something that puts a huge smile on my face is to hear from you, my readers — I owe you so much for your support. Do keep your communications coming, the whole team loves hearing from you by email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube — and of course by traditional snail mail. We learn from your views, and it is always helpful to know if I’ve made an error in my research, so I can correct it. A special thanks to the reader who informed me that brass does not rust, it corrodes. And to the one who sent me an eight-page letter explaining the difference between cement and concrete, complete with diagrams! I think I now know the difference, but I’m sure you’ll correct me if I get it wrong again...

Above all, stay well and stay safe.

Peter James