The Stranger You Know (Maeve Kerrigan Novels)
Page 39
I couldn’t help feeling sad as I walked down the path back to the car. I wondered what the specific weight of secrets was—if that was why I felt I was shouldering an extra burden. But I could do it, and I would do it.
It was just one more secret to keep.
Acknowledgments
In some ways, this is the best bit: getting to say thank you to the many people who made this book become a reality. Firstly, the fiction team at Ebury—Gillian Green, Emily Yau, Hannah Robinson, Louise Jones, Helen Arnold, Jake Lingwood, Fiona MacIntyre, Martin Higgins and everyone in the sales department. The world is divided into those who like Derwent and those who don’t. My lovely editor, Gillian, thinks he can do no wrong. (Otherwise, however, she shows impeccable judgment.)
Secondly, I’m immensely grateful to all at United Agents for their support and guidance. My agent, Ariella Feiner, is as wise as she is lovely, and as glamorous as she is encouraging, which is saying a lot. They are all a pleasure to work with.
Thirdly, my thanks to all of the people who gave me the benefit of their knowledge. Without Gemma Golder and her wonderful friend Jon Morrell, who advised on Japanese geography, customs, and names, I would have had a breakdown somewhere around Chapter 35. I learned a lot about Afghanistan from Rory Stewart’s amazing book The Places in Between, and about soldiering there from Dead Men Risen by Toby Harnden.
Fourthly, my friends and family deserve at least a round of applause for putting up with me while I fail to respond to phone calls, texts, e-mails and more. If I was inventing a husband for a crime writer, I would come up with something very like my own. In addition to being an encyclopedia of all things criminal, James has a great gift for remaining calm in the face of my impossible deadlines. Edward, Patrick and Fred are infinitely forgiving about my work and how little they see of me sometimes.
Fifthly, I must thank Frank Burns, Jonty Johnson and Caitriona Bennett for lending me their names for characters. The fictional Caitriona first appeared in The Last Girl and I liked her too much to leave her out of this book.
Finally, a note on places. London is a great backdrop for a crime novelist, with plenty of suitable locations for killings. This book ranges widely across London, but it’s far from a guide to the city. I am reluctant to litter people’s neighborhoods with fictional corpses, so like the murderer, his victims and all the other characters, these specific locations exist only in my imagination.
Also by Jane Casey
The Last Girl
The Reckoning
The Burning
The Missing
Jess Tenant YA novels
How to Fall
About the Author
JANE CASEY was born and raised in Dublin. A graduate of Oxford with an M.Phil from Trinity College, Dublin, she lives in London, where she works as an editor. This is her fifth Maeve Kerrigan novel.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE STRANGER YOU KNOW. Copyright © 2013 by Jane Casey. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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Cover design by Olga Grlic
Cover photograph © Patrick Strattner / Getty Images
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Casey, Jane (Jane E.)
The stranger you know / Jane Casey. — First U.S. edition.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-04883-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-4998-3 (e-book)
1. Women detectives—England—London—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 3. London (England)—Fiction. 4. Mystery fiction. I. Title.
PR6103.A846S77 2014
823'.92—dc23
2014008159
e-ISBN 9781466849983
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing, A Random House Group Company.
First U.S. Edition: May 2014