Acknowledgments
IN OCTOBER 2001, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY THOMAS C. Wales was shot and killed outside his Seattle home, the first known murder of a federal prosecutor. The case has never been solved, although it remains open and at this writing, news accounts indicate that investigators have identified a suspect. Law enforcement officers and the Department of Justice believe Mr. Wales’s murder was related to his work. It’s a terrifying and haunting prospect. Although Patrick Halloran is not Tom Wales, and I have no insights into the case, I have borrowed some details from the investigation that have been made public. The tragedy inspired me to highlight the impact of murder on the family and on the wider circle that surrounds each of us.
The dispute over the Gregorian & Son site is fictional, although loosely inspired by real-life concerns over the potential loss of a beloved grocery in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood to highway expansion, and by similar tensions in communities everywhere.
Although the real-life block featured here does include both a coffeehouse and a salon, mine are completely invented.
I have attempted to be accurate in my brief recount of the Armenian genocide and continuing tensions between the Turkish and Armenian communities. The book Pepper mentions, Passage to Ararat by Michael Arlen, originally published in 1975, is a highly respected account of the Armenian experience; there are other accounts, both fiction and nonfiction, about this tragic period in history, and I encourage modern readers to learn more about it.
Die-hard movie buffs in Seattle may realize I’ve fudged the date the Guild 45th closed by a few months. Rumors of a reopening are circulating; it would be great to see a classic theater given new life, in one form or another.
My thanks to Lita and Celia Artis for exploring Montlake with me, and drinking way too much coffee. Thanks to Debbie Burke for brainstorming, even if the final product took a different path. Amanda Bevill of World Spice Merchants and her staff in Seattle and in Montana could not be more supportive; thank you for the stories, for the cookies and chai, and for letting me eavesdrop on your lives. Although Jamie Ackerman is fictional, her paintings are inspired by those of Market artist Sally Simmons.
Thanks, too, to independent editor Ramona DeFelice Long for diving into an incomplete manuscript; my agent, John Talbot; my editor, Dan Mayer, along with the designers, production staff, and other booklovers at Seventh Street Books; and Dana Kaye, Samantha Lien, and Hailey Dezort at Kaye Publicity.
While writing this book I was constantly amazed by the appearance of exactly the right reader note, via email, my Face-book page, or other channels, at exactly the right time. Thank you, readers, for letting me know you like what I do. It helps; oh, my goodness gravy, as Pepper would say, how it helps.
I am blessed with a group of women friends who continually inspire and encourage me, through their words and examples, to fully live the creative life. Deep gratitude to Jordonna Dores, Jules Howard, Marsha Sultz, Rebecca Bauder, Nancy Rose, Sue Phillipson, Maggie Logan, and Carla Hannaford.
And always, thanks to my Mr. Right, Don Beans, for the male perspective, the ready ear, and the willingness to eat almost anything.
About the Author
LESLIE BUDEWITZ IS PASSIONATE ABOUT FOOD, GREAT mysteries, and the Northwest, the setting for her national-best-selling Spice Shop Mysteries and Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries. Leslie is a three-time Agatha Award winner—2011 Best Nonfiction for Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure (Linden/Quill Driver Books); 2013 Best First Novel for Death al Dente (Berkley Prime Crime), first in the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries; and 2018 Best Short Story for “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine). Her books and stories have also won or been nominated for Derringer, Anthony, and Macavity awards. A practicing lawyer, she served as president of Sisters in Crime in 2015–16 and currently serves on the board of Mystery Writers of America.
Leslie loves to cook, eat, hike, travel, garden, and paint—not necessarily in that order. She lives in Northwest Montana with her husband, Don Beans, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.
Visit her online at www.LeslieBudewitz.com, where you’ll find maps, recipes, discussion questions, links to her short stories, and more.
