I am obliged to those who unstintingly shared their expertise. Michael Grunberg and Tim Collins provided crucial background on private military operatives. Dr. William Skinner was an indispensable medical adviser. Jesse Sweeney at Caffé Umbria coffee roasting company in Seattle, Washington, kindly provided a spur-of-the-moment tour. Ines Cortez graciously described her experiences growing up in El Salvador.
The enduring love of my husband, Douglas Brayfield, and daughter, Emma, allowed me to stay sane during the roller coaster of writing a novel. While our son, Benjamin, was living in Italy, he suggested that a crime taking place during Palio might make an intruging thriller. He has continued to be an invaluable webmaster and photographer throughout this project.
On the home front at Alfred A. Knopf, I owe a huge debt to production editor Maria Massey and her crack crew, Maralee Youngs and Elizabeth Schraft, for meticulous reading; Paul Bogaards, Nicholas Latimer, and Pam Henstell for getting the word out; Anne-Lise Spitzer for state-of-the-art marketing; and Diana Coglianese for editorial support. I would like to offer profound gratitude to Sonny Mehta for his brilliant leadership, and to express special appreciation to Edward Kastenmeier, executive editor at Vintage Books, for gracing the manuscript with his keen attention.
Thank you to my friends at CAA, and to my longtime literary agent, Molly Friedrich, whose many gifts hardly fit in the four words of the dedication. She is unstoppable when it comes to excellence in publishing — a passionate advocate for both authors and readers.