I am blessed with a network of family, friends and loved ones by my side: my husband, Ewoud, who lets me talk about murder over dinner and still wants to sleep next to me at night; my kids, Evan and Isabella, who talk me up to their friends and face my books out at bookstores around the world; my parents, Diane and Bob Maleski, and brother Mark Maleski, who schlep hundreds of miles to come to my events and buy books I would have given them anyway; my girl gang Elizabeth Baxendale, Christy Brown, Lisa Camp, Nancy Davis, Scarlet Grootens, Angelique Kilkelly, Jen Robinson, Amanda Sapra and Raquel Souza. Your love and support means the world.

And most of all, thanks to you, the person holding this book. Thank you for reading my words and talking about them with your friends, for taking lovely pictures of my covers and posting them to the internet, for writing reviews and Tweets and blog posts. Because of you, I have the best job in the world.