January Thaw (The Murder-By-Month Mysteries) (21 page)

Jane Bailey Photography, Inc.

About the Author

Jess Lourey spent her formative years in Paynesville, Minnesota, a small town not unlike the Murder-by-Month series’ Battle Lake. She teaches English and sociology full time at a two-year college. When not raising her wonderful kids, teaching, or writing, you can find her gardening and navigating the niceties and meanities of small-town life. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Loft, and Lake Superior Writers.

acknowledgments

Terri Bischoff, this series would have ended at
September Fair
if not for you. Thank you for being an intuitive, kind acquisitions editor and a genius friend. Cheers to many shared projects in our future. Thank you also for lining me up with Nicole Nugent, an editor whose eye for detail is only surpassed by her organizational skills. In other words, she’s the Type-A kinda editor this writer needs. Courtney Colton, I’ll miss your publicity skills, but I appreciate all the help you’ve given my writing career. Victoria Skurnick, thank you for being my agent and my friend, and for taking me out for the best octopus of my life. Barbara Moore, thank you for giving me my first break.

Jessica Morrell, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: you make me a better writer every time I work with you. May you live a long and healthy life. Christine Hollermann, your support and friendship mean the world to me. Same to you Dana Fredsti, Linda Joffe “We’ll Always Have the Metro” Hull, Aimee Hix, Catriona McPherson, Cindy Pederson, Shannon Baker, Reed Farrel Coleman, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Margery Flax, Kellie Tatge, Stacy Emerson, Jim Pohl, Angie Trulson, and Tony Van Den Einde.

Zo
ë
and Xander, none of it would matter without the two of you. Mom, Dad, and Jen, thanks for consistently helping out so I can still feel like a good mom while following my dreams, and for making convincing me I’m capable of anything.