As you might imagine, I had a lot of help researching this book and, as always, all mistakes are mine. Rick Tagg, winemaker at Delaplane Cellars in Delaplane, Virginia, answered questions and offered advice as he has done for the last dozen years. I also confess to stealing the idea for using bicycle pulleys to open the lids of vacuum-sealed tank lids (and the ingenious idea of using hair ties to fix anything) from Kiernan Slater of Slater Run Vineyards in Upperville, Virginia, after her husband, Chris Patusky, told me Lucie’s fictional vineyard is located almost exactly where Slater Run is located on the banks of Goose Creek.

Lucie Morton, one of the leading viticulturalists and vineyard consultants in the United States, gave me an engrossing tour of her state-of-the-art laboratory in Charlottesville when I was in town for the Virginia Book Festival and allowed me to use her as the inspiration for Josie Wilde—finally rectifying the long-standing rumor that she was actually the doppelganger for Lucie Montgomery.

I am grateful to Abby Yochelson, Reference Specialist in English Literature at the Library of Congress, for organizing a fascinating meeting at the Folger Shakespeare Library with Dr. Georgiana Ziegler, Associate Librarian and Head of Reference Emerita, and Rachel Dankert, Learning and Engagement Librarian, where we discussed whether Shakespeare really wrote Shakespeare (the Folger believes the answer is yes), Project Dust Bunny, the wreck of the Sea Venture as an inspiration for The Tempest, and, of course, paid a visit to the vault to see their world-class collection of First Folios.

Enormous thanks to Mark Summers, Public Historian at Historic Jamestowne, for an absorbing, informative, and passionate private tour of the fort on an afternoon where we had the place to ourselves while the sky across the James River grew progressively darker as Hurricane Florence made its way toward Williamsburg and news bulletins began urging people to evacuate low-lying areas (like Jamestown).

Thanks to members of the Freemasons who willingly answered my questions about their organization; for obvious reasons, they have requested anonymity—but you know who you are and that I appreciate your time and candor.

My Brazilian neighbors—and dear friends—Mario and Neide Winterstein have hosted a feijoada at their home for years on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it has become one of our favorite holiday traditions. No one was ever murdered, but their warmth, hospitality, and good food—plus those lethal caipirinhas—were the inspiration for the party Scotty and Bianca hosted.

At Minotaur, thanks and love to Hannah Braaten, my wonderful editor; her assistant, the indefatigable Nettie Finn; as well as to Kayla Janas, Joe Brosnan, and Megan Kiddoo. Dominick Abel, my agent, is simply the best.