Alan Bradley - I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

To Susan Corcoran, Sharon Propson, and Sharon Klein, of Random House, my peerless publicists, those superheroes of the publishing world who do all the heavy lifting.

To Randall Klein, of Random House, who wears so many hats—all of them perfectly fitted, and to my copy editor, Connie Munro.

To Urban Hofstetter, of Random House, Germany, for his editorship and friendship; to Inge Kunzelmann, who got us on and off trains and planes throughout all of Germany without ever losing her smile; and to Sebastian Rothfuss for his valuable assistance with a most convoluted research question.

To my two charming masters of ceremonies, Margarete von Schwarzkopf in Berlin, Hanover, Frankfurt, and Cologne, and Hendrik Werner in Hanover, who translated with great style and good humor, making me sound as if I knew what I was talking about in German.

To the remarkable Anna Thalbach. It was my great privilege to sit at Anna’s side night after night as she brought Flavia to life before enraptured audiences.

To Axel Schumbrutzki, of the bookshop Hugendubel, and Florian Kröckel of Heimthafen Neukölln, who arranged a memorable evening in a vintage 1930s dance hall in East Berlin. Life is made of memories like this. Thank you, Axel and Florian.

To Klaus Eberitzsch of the bookshop Leuenhagen & Paris, in Hanover, who shares a birthday with me: same day, same year: We are now officially brothers. To Dirk Eberitzsch and Ina Albert, also of Leuenhagen & Paris. Ina and Klaus became the first booksellers ever to rush out into a busy street to hug me as I was still climbing out of a taxicab. Now I know why everyone loves Hanover!

To Mike Altwicker of the bookshop Hansen & Kröger, in Cologne, who not only organized, but got us to and from, a most memorable reading at Castle Bielstein.

To Camille Poshoglian, of Orion Books, master of international scheduling; and to Mike Vella De Fremeaux and Faye Bonnici, of Miller Distributors, Malta.

And finally, as always, with love, to my wife, Shirley, who has spent so many happy hours with me at Buckshaw.

ALSO BY ALAN BRADLEY

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag

A Red Herring Without Mustard

ALAN BRADLEY WAS BORN in Toronto and grew up in Cobourg, Ontario. Prior to taking early retirement to write in 1994, he was director of television engineering at the University of Saskatchewan media center for twenty-five years. His versatility has earned him awards for his children’s books, radio broadcasts of his short stories, and national print for his journalism. He also co-authored Ms. Holmes of Baker Street , to great acclaim and much controversy, followed by a poignant memoir, The Shoebox Bible . His first Flavia de Luce mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie , received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, the first Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award for Children’s Literature, the Dilys Award, the Agatha Award, and both the Macavity and Barry awards for best first novel. Bradley lives in Malta with his wife and two calculating cats, and is currently working on the next Flavia de Luce mystery.