Exit Row (22 page)

“She's a good actress,” Fiona said. “
I
believed her.”

“You mean she did it for the money?”

“Well, we're all still finding our way,” Rosa told him. “But as Dorothy Parker once said—”

Fiona laughed. “ ‘Gas smells awful. You might as well live!' ”

T
HE CHARACTERS IN
my books may come and go, but my support staff remains constant:

Chelsey Emmelhainz, my wonderful editor, who infuses the entire process with hope and good sense.

Agnes Birnbaum, who can always see the next possibility on the horizon.

My trusted first readers, who approach my first drafts with love and invaluable critical sense: Tom Randall, amazing husband and poet; Adele Glimm, dear friend and writer herself; Robin Culbertson, insightful reader/writer and wonderful daughter-in-law. This year, Susan Uttendorfsky turned her accomplished editorial eye on the book as well.

To all my wonderful friends, who allow us to inflict our literary party games on them, and my Goddesses. To Liz Randall and her Retired Teachers Book Club, and always to the Setauket Meadows Book Club, who are welcoming and enthusiastic and even listened to the first chapter of this book!

To my New York City book group, who work hard to foster literary excellence and fascinating conversation.

A nod to my longtime friend Wes Craven, who left us all too soon.

Finally, my stimulating and creative family, who make life worthwhile: Tom Randall, Andy and Robin Culbertson, John Chaffee and Heide Lange, David Chaffee, Jessie Chaffee and Brendan Kiely, Joshua Chaffee, Caroline Chaffee, Katie and Dave Bennett, Dave and Liz Randall, Deborah Hess. And, of course, our hopes for the future: Andrew and Emily Culbertson, Charlotte and Reagan Bennett, and others yet to come.

To the world itself: Thanks for the memory.

 

Want more from Judi Culbertson?

Be sure to check out her Delhi Laine mysteries:

AN ILLUSTRATED DEATH

A PHOTOGRAPHIC DEATH

A BOOKMARKED DEATH

Now available from Witness Impulse.

JUDI CULBERTSON
draws on her experience as a used-and-rare book dealer, social worker, and world traveler to create her mysteries. No stranger to cemeteries, she also coauthored five biographical illustrated guides with her husband, Tom Randall, starting with
Permanent Parisians
. When she is not feeding family, friends, and cats, Judi creates artwork for her company, Red Sled Ornaments.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

Exit Row

Delhi Laine Mysteries

An Illustrated Death

A Photographic Death

A Bookmarked Death

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

EXIT ROW
. Copyright © 2016 by Judi Culbertson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

EPub Edition MARCH 2016 ISBN: 9780062365163

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062365170

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