The Hunt Club

This book, to say the least, did not write itself. In fact, in the early stages, it sometimes felt as though it would never get truly started. But helping me out of the blocks were my two great friends who also happen to toil in these fields of words-John Poswall and Max Byrd.

Carole Baron, though no longer at the helm at Dutton, has been a guiding force and cheerleader for my work from the very begi

ing, and she contributed mightily to the original concept here. Day to day, my editor, Mitch Hoffman, has kept the process on its course with several interim readings (and astute comments). Don Matheson, pere

ial best man, provides my regular gumption fix, without which the pages would pile up far too slowly and would be far less fun to write.

Several characters in this book owe their names (although no physical or personality traits, which are all fictional) to individuals whose contributions to various charities have been especially generous. These people (and their respective charities) include Doug Malinoff, Yolo County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA); Sue Kutschkau, Cal State Fullerton Foundation; and Betsy Sobo, the American Repertory Ballet. Lastly, I am extremely grateful as always to my agent, Barney Karpfinger, who embraced the perhaps risky idea of this book from its conception and helped to keep the seed alive until it came to fruition.

John Lescroart

JOHN LESCROART, the New York Times best-selling author of such novels as The Mercy Rule, The 13th Juror, Nothing but the Truth, and The Hearing, lives with his family in northern California.

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