Nantucket Red (Nantucket Blue) (20 page)

Acknowledgments

I’D LIKE TO THANK:
Emily Meehan, my awesome editor. Sara Crowe, my dream agent. The whole team at Disney Hyperion, especially Laura Schreiber, Jamie Baker, Elizabeth Holcomb, Monica Mayper, and Marci Senders. Vanessa Cross Napolitano and Kayla Cagan, my steadfast writing group members, for their insight, honesty, kindness and humor. Maryhope Rutherford for her sensitive reading of the first draft. Eileen McGrath, Jennie Haas, Maggie Moran, Bob Crowe, the Nantucket Police Department and all the wonderful people on Nantucket who welcomed me, patiently answered my questions, drew me maps and provided the kind of details that fire up a writer’s mind. Sharon Gardner for our invaluable conversations about the psychology of these characters. My family and friends, especially my parents. And Jonny, whose storytelling talent, imagination, and wild sense of humor are only a few of the reasons why I am so lucky.

A graduate of Georgetown University,
LEILA HOWLAND
spent five years acting in New York in eveything from an MTV public-service announcement for safe sex to a John Guare play at Lincoln Center and was a proud company member of the award-winning Flea Theater in Tribeca. Currently, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two dogs.
Nantucket Blue
was her first novel.