Питер Джеймс - Find Them Dead

FLO— Family Liaison Officer.

HOLMES— Home Office Large Major Enquiry System. The national computer database used on all murders. It provides a repository of all messages, actions, decisions and statements, allowing the analysis of intelligence and the tracking and auditing of the whole enquiry. Can enable enquiries to be linked across force areas where necessary.

IOPC— Independent Office for Police Conduct.

OSCAR-1— The call sign of the Force Control Duty Inspector, who has oversight and command of all critical incidents in the initial stages.

PM— Postmortem.

POLSA— Police Search Adviser.

RSOCU— Regional Serious & Organized Crime Unit.

SIO— Senior Investigating Officer. Usually a Detective Chief Inspector who is in overall charge of the investigation of a major crime such as murder, kidnap or rape.

Police ranks are consistent across all disciplines and the addition of prefixes such as ‘detective’ (e.g. detective constable) does not affect seniority relative to others of the same rank (e.g. police constable).

With every novel I write, I’m always overwhelmed by the kindness of so many people who help me get the facts and descriptions of their professions and worlds accurate. I’m a stickler for accuracy in my research, so if I have got anything wrong please forgive me — and I’m sure you’ll let me know!

It’s always difficult to single out any particular person or group of people who have given me the most help, but I have found to my good fortune that with every novel, I seem to stumble, by luck or synchronicity, into either one person or, in this case, a small group of people, who have helped me beyond and above anything I have any right to expect.

In Find Them Dead , for the first time I’ve entered the world of a major court case, which has entirely its own language, culture and procedures. I am very deeply indebted to Resident Judge Her Honour Christine Laing QC, Judge Paul Tain QC, and Crown Advocate Richard Pedley, all of whom have tirelessly read the manuscript and made corrections, as well as happily taking my numerous calls on so many aspects of legal procedure. I honestly could not have written this novel without them. Nor without the immensely generous help of Juliet Smith JP, former High Sheriff of East Sussex, who opened so many doors for me.

Further invaluable legal help came from Anthony Burton CBE, Richard Cherrill, Moira Sofaer, Clive Sofaer, His Honour Paul Worsley QC, and also from staff at Lewes Crown Court, with particular thanks to Sally Burr, Lynda Pennicard-Nicholls and Denise Stonell.

Equally crucial for me is getting all aspects of policing accurate, and for this novel I’m indebted to both Sussex and the London Metropolitan Police. For many years I have had the immensely kind and generous support of Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, and the Sussex Chief Constable Giles York QPM, and many officers and support staff serving under them. I’m listing them, as well as Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team officers and Met officers, in alphabetic order (and please forgive any omissions):

Sgt Peter Barnes, Chief Superintendent Lisa Bell, Inspector James Biggs, PC Matt Colburn, PC Ana Dark, Inspector Paul Davey, Financial Investigator Emily Denyer, DC Jenny Dunn, PC Philip Edwards, Inspector Mark Evans, CSI James Gartrell, Aiden Gilbert in Digital Forensics, DCI Rich Haycock, Inspector Dan Hiles, PC Dave Horton, Joseph Langford, DC Martin Light, Superintendent Paula Light, Chief Superintendent Nick May, Chief Constable of Kent Alan Pughlsey QPM, DCI Andy Richardson, Acting Inspector Andy Saville, Detective Superintendent Nick Sloan, James Stather in Forensic Services, DS Phil Taylor, Detective Superintendent Jason Tingley, PC Richard Trundle, and DI Bill Warner. And Beth Durham, Sue Heard, Jill Pedersen and Katie Perkin of Sussex Police Corporate Communications.

A big thank you, also, to Theresa Adams, Martin Allen, Susan Ansell, Graham Bartlett, Alan Bowles, Nick Cameron, Clare Davis, Sam Dawson, Peter Dean, Sean Didcott, Martin and Jane Diplock, Simon Drabble, Jonathan Gready (whose name I ‘borrowed’ for one of the main characters!), Anna Hancock, Ron Harrison, James Hodge, Terry Hooper, Claire Horne, Haydn Kelly, Rob Kempson, Gary and Rachel Kenchington, Paul Khan, Gerry Maye, Adrian Noon, Ray Packham, Julia Richardson of Galen Myotherapy, Kit Robinson (role model for Noah Grace!), Alan Setterington, Helen Shenston, Dick Smith, Orlando Trujillo, Mark Tuckwell, and Coroner’s Officer Michelle Websdale.

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: Jonathan Atkins; Sarah Arratoon, Anna Bond, Lara Borlenghi, Emily Bromfield, Stuart Dwyer, Claire Evans, Samantha Fletcher, Anthony Forbes Watson, Lucy Hine, Hollie Iglesias, Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Kellaway, Neil Lang, Rebecca Lloyd, Sara Lloyd, James Long, James Luscombe, Holly Martin, Guy Raphael, Alex Saunders, Jade Tolley, Kate Tolley, Jeremy Trevathan, Charlotte Williams and Natalie Young.

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

I’m blessed with a very close-knit and creative team around me, whom I jokingly — and perhaps no so jokingly — call Team James! Dani Brown, Mark and Debbie Brown, Kate Blazeby, Linda Buckley, Chris Diplock, David Gaylor, Lara James, Sarah Middle, Amy Robinson, Mark Tuckwell and Chris Webb.

I do often wonder if I’d not have the good fortune to meet a young DI, David Gaylor, back in 1997 (who rose to become Detective Chief Superintendent), whether Roy Grace would ever have happened. We work together closely on the planning and every stage of the development of each book. He’s not quite my slave driver but he never lets me slacken the pace!

Last, but first of all, my beloved wife Lara. She is the first person to read every word I write, and she has judgement I completely trust, not just on how the story is going, but on how I’m portraying anything of a sensitive nature. She supports me and the team tirelessly, and with endless enthusiasm and wisdom. Even in my toughest moments with each book — and there are always some — she never lets my spirits flag.

As I write this, we are in dark times with the daily, growing nightmare of the Covid-19 pandemic. The one thing that always keeps me grounded, and puts a smile on my face despite almost any adversity, is being with our adorable menagerie of animals who are — so we think at any rate! — blissfully unaware of the horrors of the wider world. Thank you to all of you furry and feathered creatures! Our dogs, Oscar, Spooky and Wally, our cats, Madame Woo and Willy, our alpacas, Alpacino, Fortescue, Jean-Luc, Boris and Keith, our emus, Spike and Wolfie, our pigmie goats, Bouscaut, Margaux, Ted and Norman, and our miracle Indian Runner duck, Mickey Magic, that we hatched in an incubator in our home.

And a very special thank you to 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 even occasionally by post. I’ve learned so much from hearing what you like and what you don’t, and when I occasionally make a slip-up. Above all, stay safe.