The Lion's Courtship: An Anna Kronberg Mystery (26 page)

What began as a short story — initiated by Rita Singer’s
I want more of that Irish hottie
comment on Facebook — developed into a novel over the past two years.

While I’m not quite certain how precisely this story came about (I wasn’t really present, all I did was to scribble a bit), a supportive and
 
trustworthy group of people helped me write it and push it towards publication: Magnus Wendeberg, who always has to read the awful first drafts; Rita Singer, who provides the most hilarious comments; Sabrina Flynn, who is my invaluable manuscript-over-the-head-slapper (and yes girl, I do have those imaginary conversations with you, too!); Nancy DeMarco, who patiently points out strengths and weaknesses of my texts since I first tried my hand on writing; Bryan Kroeger, whose warm and enthusiastic feedback is balm on a writer’s soul; and Heike Schmidt, who always asks for more (from Kronberg books to strawberry ice cream) Thank you all for your help and your patience with my unfinished stories! I hope you like the final outcome.

I’d also like to thank the National Library of Scotland for their wonderfully detailed maps of the 1890s London.

And the last bow goes to my proofreader, Susan Uttendorfsky, for helping me to not sound too non-native-y (Yes, I know this isn’t even a word).