As always, huge thanks to Lucy Hayward for her feedback and suggestions on this book and my others. They are all much, much better books for it, and I can’t thank her enough.

To Xander and Jim, my dashing assistants who undertake a multitude of tasks for me on a daily basis and allow me to just about keep my head above water — thank you.

Of course, I need to thank my wife, Joanne, for talking plots and characters through with me and getting me on the right line on more than one occasion. And for the countless nights in Oakham’s wonderful pubs while I was ‘doing some research’.

But my biggest thanks, as always, go to you — my readers — and especially those subscribed to my Patreon program. Active supporters get a number of benefits, including the chance of having a character named after them in my books. In What Lies Beneath, Barbara Tallis and Peter Tottman were named after Patreon supporters.

If you’re interested in becoming a patron, please head over to patreon.com/adamcroft. Your support is enormously valuable.

With that, I’d like to give my biggest thanks to my small but growing group of readers who are currently signed up as Patreon supporters at the time of writing: Ann Sidey, Astrid Rohrlach, Barbara Tallis, Carla Powell, Darren Ashworth, Dawn Blythe, Debbie Rowan, Elaine Smith, Emiliana Anna Perrone, Emily Ellis, Estelle Golding, Geraldine Rue, Helen Weir, Jeanette Moss, Judy Hopkins, Julie Devonald Cornelius, Karina Gallagher, Leigh Hansen, Linda Anderson, Lisa Bayliss, Lisa Lewkowicz, Louise Ross, Lynne Davis, Lynne Lester-George, Mandy Davies, Maureen Hutchings, Nigel M Gibbs, Oriette Stubbs, Paul Wardle, Peter Tottman, Ruralbob, Sally Catling, Sally-Anne Coton, Sim Croft (no relation), Sue (no surname), Susan Fiddes, Sylvia Crampin, Tremayne Alflatt, Tracey Clark, Claire Evans, Lisa-Marie Thompson and Tyler Porter. You’re all absolute superstars.

Wow. That went on longer than I expected.

Adam Croft

With almost two million books sold to date, Adam Croft is one of the most successful independently published authors in the world, having sold books in over 120 different countries.

In February 2017, Amazon’s overall Author Rankings briefly placed Adam as the most widely read author in the world at that moment in time, with J.K. Rowling in second place.

Adam is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on independent publishing and has been featured on BBC television, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, the BBC World Service, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Bookseller and a number of other news and media outlets.

In March 2018, Adam was conferred as an Honorary Doctor of Arts, the highest academic qualification in the UK, by the University of Bedfordshire in recognition of his services to literature.

Adam presents the regular crime fiction podcast Partners in Crime with fellow bestselling author and television actor Robert Daws.

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