None of the characters in this book are real, of course; I made them all up. Mere fictions, mere figments, every one. Having said that, I have to state that, as always, I owe profound thanks to all those who helped me write it.
First and foremost, always and forever, Dori. Wife, lover, best friend, best person (and best editor) I have ever known, who right down to the very last second worked much harder on this book than I did to make it right.
Henry Morrison and Danny Baror, my book agents, who labor long and hard all over the world in every medium on my behalf.
Bill Malloy, Editor-in-Chief at Mysterious Press, for being such a good friend and dynamic editor. Also long-suffering Harvey-Jane Kowal, Executive Managing Editor of Time Warner Trade Publishing, who takes the time for my work.
Paul Sandberg, entertainment attorney and film producer extraordinaire (Picking up the Pieces), who tells the world’s best jokes, many of which have found their way into these pages.
Novelist Michael Connelly for letting me borrow Harry Bosch (in name only) as a fun foil for Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern.
Rick Robinson for lending me his name and physical being for one of the novel’s quasi-bad guys. In real life he is a gentle giant who edits the excellent mystery fanzine The Perp.
Sis Moeller of Global Travel in Mill Valley worked out how to get my Gypsies to Rome on short notice during Millennium year.
Jean Jong of Gold Dream Jewelers at San Anselmo’s Red Hill Shopping Center gave me invaluable data concerning the color, size, origin, and price of emeralds I needed for my jewelry scam.
Bill Corfitzen supplied me with a great deal of material about Rome in Millennium year not elsewhere available.
Blair Allen did likewise for the “magic salt” case.
Stan Croner, one of the world’s true good guys, lets me continue to bash him about as Stan Groner of Cal-Cit Bank.
Dick Mercure and Vicky McPhee opened their premises and their hearts to Dori and me during the novel’s early stages.
Finally, many Gypsies told me their stories, their cons and scams and grifts, their folktales and spells and charms and legends, on condition they remain anonymous. And so they do.
This novel was begun at Frederiksted, St. Croix, American Virgin Islands, worked on in Arizona and New Mexico and Colorado, and completed in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Joe Gores
January 2001