ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is with genuine fondness that I acknowledge the influence of the encyclopaedic work of the late Peter Haining and the late Dennis Bardens, who both wrote so enthrallingly about apparitions. The absence of their books from my shelves would haunt me. The chilling, and near unbearably ghastly, true crime books of Howard Sounes (Fred and Rose), John Leake (The Vienna Woods Killer), Stefanie Marsh and Bojan Pancevski (The Crimes of Joseph Frizl) were invaluable in my attempts at creating these killers, as were the studies of Martha Stout (The Myth of Sanity) and Robert D. Hare (Without Conscience). P.V. Glob’s classic, The Bog People, offered a shrivelled hand in the service of creating Old Black Mag’s history.

Many thanks to my editor, Julie Crisp, for her keen thoughts and suggestions, to my agent, John Jarrold, to Kesia Lupo and the Pan Macmillan team, and the teams at St Martins, Minotauro and Braggelonne. Additional gratitude goes out to my beta readers: Hugh Simmons, Mathew Riley, Anne Nevill and Clive Nevill.

My sincerest thanks to the British Fantasy Society and to the community of bloggers and reviewers who continue to check out my books and support them.

Readers: I salute you! You keep me going.