Diving into a new genre would no doubt have been a more staggering undertaking without the following books and resources as guideposts: The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk; Waking the Tiger, by Peter A. Levine; The Unsayable, by Annie G. Rogers; I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara; The Fact of a Body, by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich; No Visible Bruises, by Rachel Louise Snyder; In the Name of the Children, by Jeffrey L. Rinek and Marilee Strong; The Killer Across the Table, by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker; Criminal Minds, by Jeff Mariotte; Unsolved Child Murders, by Emily G. Thompson; the Polly Klaas Foundation (pollyklaas.org); the Petaluma Argus-Courier archives; “Polly’s Face,” by Noelle Oxenhandler, The New Yorker, November 22, 1993; Who Killed Polly? by Frank Spiering; Polly Klaas, by Barry Bortnick; the Los Angeles Times archives; Images of America: Early Mendocino Coast, by Katy M. Tahja; and History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California, by Aurelius O. Carpenter; The Light Between Us, by Laura Lynn Jackson; Gathering Moss, by Robin Wall Kimmerer; and The Songs of Trees, by David George Haskell. I also very much need to thank the following authors whose work helped me understand what I wanted to accomplish in my own book: Tana French, Kate Atkinson, Louise Penny, Rene Denfeld, Peter Rock, and Gabriel Tallent. Thank you for your excellent mentorship, however unintended!

Brian Groh, Patti Callahan Henry, Beth Howard, Sarah McCoy, and Eleanor Brown are friends I’ve come to count on for solidarity and support when I most need it. You’re incredible humans as well as phenomenal storytellers. Thank you! Kat Berko, my magnificent assistant, has been a godsend to me; I’m never letting her go. Other friends and family members continue to be indispensable in more ways than I can name: Sharon Day, Pam and Doug O’Hara, Beth Hellerstein and Dan Jaffee, Boo Geisse, Brad Bedortha, and the entire D’Alessio clan; Terry Dubow, Toni Thayer, Sarah Willis, Karen Sandstrom, and the Eastside Writers; Heather Greene; the Kauai Gals, with a special shout-out to Cynthia Baker, Meg Wolitzer, Priya Parmar, Amanda Eyre Ward, and Michelle Tessler; and also David Kline and Jon Zeitler, who aren’t gals at all, but who welcomed me so warmly, and made every moment of Kauai feel like home.

Thanks to Karen Curtis and to Cricket (the real Cricket!) for love and inspiration, and to the expansive Cleveland crew who have helped keep me sane, fed, dressed, coiffed, and on track during the writing of this book: Quincy D’Alessio, Sam D’Alessio, Alena Sorensen, Karen Rosenberg, Nan Cohen, Aaron Kamut, Kath Lepole, Brian Schrieffer, Leigh Sanford, Penny Conover, Krista Gorzelanczyk, Lindsey Campana, Erika Scotese, Karen Miner, Olga Chwa, Dave Vincent, and Ron Block.