DEADLY SETUP came out on July 5, and I wasted no time ordering a box of books. I still get a thrill holding a copy of a new book I’ve written. And now I had 20 shiny new copies, both to send as thank you gifts to angels who helped me along the way and for future book events.

Of course, I soon realized that I’d seriously miscalculated how many books I should have ordered! By the time I’d come up with a list of folks deserving of a thank you copy, I hardly had any copies left for upcoming book events.

How did my thank you list get so long? Well, it includes the members of my terrific critique group, the North End Writers, as well as beta readers who generously agreed to read my drafts and give me feedback. There were also the legal experts I consulted, since DEADLY SETUP involves a murder trial. And finally, there were the fellow authors who were kind enough to take time from their own writing to read my work and write blurbs on its behalf.

Of course, that’s not really the entire list of folks who helped me. There’s the amazing staff at Fire and Ice, my publisher, as well as my wonderful publicist at Books Forward.  And my list would not be complete if I didn’t mention that my dear husband is always my first reader.

The truth is, writing may be a solitary activity, but there are so many special people who help us authors along the way. I am so grateful for all those who have aided me in my writing journey.