Blue Madonna (32 page)

Acknowledgments

I am indebted
to the entire creative team at Soho Press. I hesitate to name names out of fear of missing any one of that terrific crew; but I must mention that Diana Seaton's
faux
identity of Juliet Bonvie is a nod to Juliet Grames, associate publisher and the best advocate an author could ask for.

My wife, Debbie Mandel, continues to play an important role as first reader and first editor, lending her keen eye and supportive shoulder to this endeavor specifically, and all else in general.

The description of the destruction of the bridge at Chérisy owes much to a society of experts I frequently call upon: a WWII listserv whose members provide an extraordinary level of detail whenever I come up with a question for them. I had no idea of the complexities involved in blowing up a stone bridge, and the group helped me to portray it authentically, avoiding the error of over-simplification.

Specifically, Gordon Rottman, a 26-year veteran of the US Army Special Forces, came up with the plan to take down the bridge. In addition to his military career, he's the author of a number of non-fiction military titles from Osprey Publishing, and the award-winning author of
The Hardest Ride
, a great western novel. If you ever need to blow up a bridge, Gordo's your man.