‘They’re beautiful, Ruth! What are they – foxgloves?’

‘Goodness, no. You should never give anyone foxgloves. They’re poisonous, didn’t you know that?’

‘No! Really?’

‘To pets and to humans. Now, you have to eat them, really, for it to be fatal. A pet might eat the leaves but a human wouldn’t. Unless of course it’s served to them in a lamb casserole, by someone they trust.’

Tracy shakes her head. ‘Ruth, you’re giving me the shivers. Too many of those Agatha Christie books, I reckon.’

‘I’m just passing on some age-old advice. A casserole like that will kill a man. And funnily enough, it would go undetected. It would look just like a heart attack.’

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my fantastic editor, Finn Cotton, whose wisdom and expertise whipped this book into shape and ready for bookshelves. Thank you to the equally fantastic Imogen Nelson for looking after it during the in-between time, and also to the equally fantastic Tash Barsby who was there for the start. I feel very lucky to have had three incredible editors work on this book!

Thank you to all at Transworld, Penguin Random House and Penguin Ireland who worked on Hide and Seek (and on All Her Fault – I wrote the acknowledgements too early last time and missed some people): Becky Short, Louis Patel, Beci Kelly, Vivien Thompson, Tom Chicken, Laura Garrod, Laura Ricchetti, Emily Harvey, Natasha Photiou, Ella Horne, Ruth Richardson, Hana Sparks, Aimee Johnson, Laura Dermody, Sophie Dwyer, Fíodhna Ní Ghríofa and Claire Gatzen. Thank you also to Frankie Gray, Larry Finlay, Bill Scott-Kerr and everyone at the Transworld office for the incredible welcome when I finally made it over earlier this year.

Thank you to my incredible agent, Diana Beaumont, without whom none of this would be possible. You are the BEST.

Like All Her Fault, Hide and Seek was inspired by a real-life event, so I want to thank my kids for spending the last ten years giving me heart failure and giving me writing inspiration in equal measure. In this case, thank you specifically to my son for going missing during the game of Hide and Seek that sparked this story, but much more importantly, thank you for eventually turning up.

Parts of this book were inspired by my own childhood spent playing on the green, playing in the woods, and playing in a building site in Carrigaline, Co. Cork. (It was the eighties so it was perfectly safe to spend all day playing among cement mixers and diggers.) It has been particularly lovely that through social media and writing I’ve had the opportunity to get back in touch with people I grew up with in Carrigaline. The sun always shone on those childhood days.

Thank you to Trina Beakey-Wise for answering my random house-purchase questions at the school gate, thank you to Stephen and Allen for the police questions, and thank you Deirdre Fitzgerald, Niamh Kiely and Sinead McCormack for medical answers. All errors are mine!

Thank you to the Irish writing community (as ever, I’m not risking listing names in case I forget someone) and to the booksellers who kept authors and readers going during lockdown.