Nine Lives: A Lily Dale Mystery (26 page)

This series would not have come to fruition without my editor, Matt Martz, who may not be able to communicate with the Other Side but makes incredible things happen on This Side, and my agent, Laura Blake Peterson of Curtis Brown, who’s held my hand, picked up the pieces, hit me over the head, and carried me through for over twenty years now. I also extend deepest gratitude to Laura’s assistant, Marnie Zoldessy, and to my film agent, Holly Frederick, at Curtis Brown; to Dan Weiss, who published my first novel back in 1993 (we’ve come full circle twenty-two years later!); to John Lippman for this fantastic opportunity, Nike Power for wrangling and wrestling many Wendy things, and to the rest of the gang at Crooked Lane; to PR powerhouse Dana Kaye; to Carol Fitzgerald and the gang at the Book Report Network; to Peter Meluso; to the Atwell/Cody family—Laura, Todd, Diana, and John—who lovingly fostered Chance and her six newborn kittens while I was away on my summer book tour; to Penelope Smith-Berk and her Community Cats Rescue Organization in Bedford, New York, who help save the lives of hundreds of strays every year (Chance and her babies included); to Doug Halsey and Ready For Rescue, for pulling my fosters Frenchy and Cha Cha and Sunday and more from the kill shelter; to my husband, Mark, who read, reread, and reread again. And again. And—you get it. Finally, to my readers, who can never get enough Lily Dale. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been inspired to make this mystical place come alive again in my work. Thank you for believing in me and in Lily Dale. Stay tuned!