Award-winning San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan for his assistance with all things reporter-based in the manuscript-including newspaper industry terminology, the timing of deadlines, the journalist culture, their thought processes and approaches to stories, and their relationships with the police.
San Francisco Police Department homicide Inspectors Antonio Casillas and Tom Walsh for their background on the workings of the department, procedures for handling major crimes, resources available to inspectors, and for answering my plethora of mundane yet vital questions regarding SFPD capabilities, crime scene management, etc.
Carol Wolther and Sharon Phelan at the Cable Car Powerhouse. Carol, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Maintenance Superintendent of component repair and heavy repair rail transit shops, oriented me as to the workings of the Cable Car barn, and the maintenance and storage of the cars. Sharon gave me a terrific overview of the cable routes, the Sheave and Control rooms, and an explanation of how the sheaves operate.
Jorge Beltran, Coast Guard Agent, for assisting me with Coast Guard terminology and for serving as the conduit for obtaining agency clearance; Henry Dunphy, US Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class, for information pertaining to the Coast Guard’s policies regarding interagency cooperation; and for a description of its vast complement of vessels.
Joe Sanchez, Archives Technician, The National Archives at San Francisco, for educating me on the Alcatraz materials stored at the facility and the time frame in which the documents arrived there; and for providing me with the current disposition of former inmates.
Roger Lamm and Bob Goldberg, for sailing around the island and giving me difficult-to-obtain views of Alcatraz. Gaining perspective on an island requires not only being on it physically, but viewing it from the outside looking in.
Mark Safarik, Senior FBI Profiler and Supervisory Special Agent (ret.). The novel is dedicated to Mark, but without Mark’s eighteen-plus years of tutelage on behavioral analysis, I would not have been able to conceive of the story, let alone write it with any degree of accuracy. Mark also helped me with Vail’s “New York problem”-and did his usual, detailed review of the manuscript.
Jeff Jacobson, Esq. My brother was my initial point of contact and answer machine for issues and questions pertaining to MacNally’s legal problems and Scheer’s sordid background.
Scott Portier, electrician, for instruction on how to torture someone using exposed electrical wires. That sounds odd, but it is what I asked him about, and it is what we discussed.
Kevin Smith, my editor. I’d like to say that after four novels, Kevin and I have fallen into a rhythm. But I can’t-because we were in lockstep from the moment we started working together on The 7th Victim. In baseball, some pitchers prefer to work with certain catchers because they call a great game and coax the best performance out of that pitcher on a given day. Kevin is my personal catcher…helping me throw the well-pitched game with minimal errors.
On the topic of errors, kudos to Anais Scott, my copyeditor. I’m increasingly convinced that Anais is not really human. She sees things-catches things-that everyone else’s brain slides past. When I think I’ve found something on which she goofed (we’re all human, right?), she replies with a detailed explanation as to why I was wrong. So I stand corrected. She’s right-and for that, I benefit.
John Hutchinson and Virginia Lenneville of Norwood Press for producing the classy Karen Vail trilogy boxed set and for being the driving force behind the Inmate 1577hardcover release. They are a class act, and I’m excited to be working with them.
Daniel Tibbets, Thomas Ellsworth, and Hutch Morton of Premier Digital Publishing. Their vision, vast experience, and enthusiasm for this project were instrumental in successfully launching me into the eBook realm. Special shout-out to Lorianne Tibbets for her sharp proofing eyes and behind- the-scenes assistance.
Joel Gotler and Frank Curtis, my agents, for taking care of the business side of publishing so that I can spend more of my time doing what I do best.
Jill, my wife, who has put up with insane schedules, long hours, and the unrelenting stress of multiple deadlines. I look forward to spending more time with you.
Additionally, many thanks to my draft readers, whose sharp eyes caught a litany of typos: C. J. Snow, and Jeff and Danielle Jacobson.
Thanks, as well, to those who have helped me get my books into readers’ hands: the awesome Tom Hedtke, Vicki Lorini, Keith Kilby, and Nathan Spradlin; John Keese; Valerie Burnside, Kara Schneider, and Jeff Bobby.
Marc Stiles; Patrick Malloy; Pam Woods, Kirk Pasich; J. B. Dickey, Fran Fuller; Joan Hansen; Patrick Millikin; Bobby McCue, Linda Brown; Jennifer Ballot; Scott C. Maynard, Amanda Kruse, Patrick McGhee, Sheree Tolman; Peter MacHott, Willie Davis, Jennifer Griffiths; Bonnie Lewis, Chris Bravo. Douglas Thompson; Russell Ilg; Jeane Coggan, Kristine Williams.
Ed Kauffman; Robert Snyder, Bob Blake, Francis Murphy, Ted Pelonis; Andrew Gulli; John and Shannon Raab; Terry Louchheim Gilman, Maryelizabeth Hart; Patrick Heffernan, Lori Burns, Linda Tonnesen; Chris Acevedo, Daniel Piel; Barbara Peters, Will Hanisko; Terry Abbott.
Stuart McMillian, Guy Farris, and Melissa Crowley (News10’s Sacramento & Co.); Janice DeJesus of The Contra Costa Times; Elise Cooper.
Jane Willoughby and Ingram Losner; Wayne and Julia Rudnick; Len Rudnick; John Hartman; Andrea Ragan; Russell and Marion Weis.
Special thanks to Terri Goodwin Landreth and Sandra Clark Soreano for taking the lead to organize the entertaining “Fans of Alan Jacobson” Facebook group, which connects me with my readers and fans. To check it out, go to http://on.fb.me/ic8lVl.
