For the third time, my sincere thanks to John Sargent, head of Macmillan; Sally Richardson, who captains St. Martin’s; and my publisher at Minotaur, Andrew Martin. Also, a huge debt of gratitude continues for Hector DeJean in Publicity; Jeff Dodes and everyone in Marketing and Sales, especially Paul Hochman. In addition, there is Jen Enderlin, the sage of all things paperback; David Rotstein, who produced the cover; Steven Seighman for the interior design work; and Mary Beth Roche and her innovative folks in Audio.
A bow to Simon Lipskar, my agent and good friend, and to my editor, Kelley Ragland, who’s a joy to work with. Finally, my thanks to Elizabeth Lacks, Kelley’s assistant, who is wonderful.
Now for a few extra mentions: Meryl Moss and her extraordinary publicity team (especially Deb Zipf and JeriAnn Geller); Jessica Johns and Esther Garver, who continue to keep Steve Berry Enterprises running; Richard Stamm, the curator of the Smithsonian Castle, who showed me the secret spots, fielded countless questions, and helped proof the manuscript; Nancy Gwinn, the director of the Smithsonian Libraries, for giving me the benefit of her careful eye; William Baxter of the Smithsonian Libraries for an excellent tour of the National Museum of American History; Jerry Conlon, who provided a similar education about the National Museum of Natural History; and Tina Muracco of the Smithsonian Libraries for organizing and participating in an enlightening day across Washington, DC, which included: Tom Wickham, the parliamentarian for the House of Representatives; Matthew Wasniewski, the House historian; Kenneth Kato, the associate House historian; Brian Reisinger, formerly of Senator Lamar Alexander’s office; and Representative Marsha Blackburn, who arranged with her staff a fantastic tour of the Capitol. My sincere thanks to all of you.
