Christopher Moore: Secondhand Souls

“ Bonjour, monsieur ,” she said to Jacques. “ Je suis Helen .” And she proceeded to outline, in French with a heavy American accent, what would be required of him. And different ghosts, each more charming than the last, appeared to people on bridges all over the world, and thus was established the new turn of the Wheel of Life and Death, so that each soul on its journey between bodies, would pause in a place between places, and then continue on toward its proper place as part of the universe.

The author gratefully acknowledges the help of the following in the research of Secondhand Souls :

Michael Tucker, who helped me locate Concepción Arguella and Count Nikolai Rezanov’s love story, prompted only by a very vague memory of a book I read twenty years ago.

Eileen Hirst, for the lowdown on cop funerals and city politics, much of which I blissfully ignored.

Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, the intrepid San Francisco Giants TV announcers, to whom I owe credit for all the baseball lingo I know, except the profanities, which they would never, ever use.

Monique Motil, whose brilliant “sartorial creatures” sculptures were the inspiration for the Squirrel People.

Ryan, Piper, and Presley Pombrio, for the lowdown on princesses and little ponies.

And Charlee Gina Michelle Hieronymus Carnitas Tremble Moss Moore, for insight on her hospice work, as well as her patience, tolerance, and generosity, without which, this book would have never been finished.

Christopher Moore is the author of fourteen previous novels, including Lamb, The Stupidest Angel, A Dirty Job, Fool, Sacré Bleu , and The Serpent of Venice . He lives in San Francisco, California.

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