Thanks to everyone behind the scenes, who make bringing a book out (especially during a pandemic) possible; to Kim Nash and Noelle Holten: looking forward to working with you again 🙂, and to all the bloggers who work so hard to help promote all the writing.

Thank you as ever to my most trusted friend and first reader Nicola Smyth, tolerant as ever – enduringly kind and supportive: a friendship much valued since the horror of the first baby maracas.

For the invaluable advice on the police procedure, sincere thanks to Neil Lancaster, thriller writer and ex-Met DS, who patiently answered every question without raising an eyebrow (well, I didn’t see if you did!). Suffice to say, all procedural mistakes are my own.

I always deeply appreciate my crime-writing colleagues and friends, never short on encouragement. Thank you, Caroline Green and Lucy Dawson for your generosity; and Jenny Blackhurst, Katerina Diamond, Ed James, Angela Clarke, Susi Holliday, Claire Dyer, Kerry Fisher and Samantha Hayes, who have all offered support in the past few years when I’ve wandered off the path. Roll on the crime clan being in an actual room together again soon; I’ll listen to you all do karaoke.

Given The Street Party is about mothers and friends, and with what the whole world’s been through this past year – a sad and challenging time none of us anticipated, I don’t think – most loving thanks go to my own girlfriends, without whom I’d be truly lost. To the ‘Cool Mums’ (the title’s ironic, of course!): my dear Bridget Shepherd, Jo Atkins, Niki Born, Sharon Pathak, Emma Wilson-Pulley – always on the end of a desperate/comedy WhatsApp, a dog walk, or a G & T whenever we’ve actually been allowed to meet! Thanks to my therapy friends, Lucy Newholm, Rossella Iannotti and Heather Lewin for being there; heartfelt thanks to Veronica Braviner-Roman – your unfailing generosity with parenting advice has been invaluable; to Pippa Healy who told me colour coordination was a thing; and to Hannah Brownhill: someone else who knows what it’s like to be the only one in charge!

I’d also like to thank Yvonne Rigby, for always answering me.

Finally, to my lovelies: Verl, Fenn and Raffi. Life with you is never dull and the house is never quiet (or very tidy). Somehow we’ve made it through this last year intact: I love you all from my toes to the crown of my head and back again four times and forever.

We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.

Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.