The Bone Hunters (30 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I took substantial artistic license with this remarkable story. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Peking Man fossils on December 8, 1941, will almost certainly never be solved.

The fossils were probably lost forever near a railhead in Chinwangtao in northern China after the U.S. Marine detachment escorted them there from the Peking Union Medical College in the first tumultuous hours after the war began, only to discover that the ship they were planning to meet at the port city had been sunk. In all likelihood, Japanese soldiers captured and ransacked the crates containing the fossils and, failing to recognize their priceless value, trampled the bones into the dust.

I would like to thank my old friend, the fine historian Robert K. Krick, for tracking down a trove of illuminating military records concerning the disappearance of Peking Man at the Marine Corps Records Center in Quantico, Virginia.

The trove includes the most enlightening information I have yet read on the subject of the disappearance, including affidavits and letters from the commanding officer of the marine detachment at Peking in December 1941, his executive officer, and the American woman who packed the Peking Man fossils in glass containers before they were handed over to the marine detachment. The Quantico material comes closer to revealing the answer than anything else I have yet read.

I am also grateful to my friend Tom Hurd, who generously gave me valuable advice and suggestions on the plot and characters from inception to conclusion. I hope he writes his own book soon. He is a talented storyteller.

Finally, I wish to thank Brent Howard, my gifted editor at Penguin Random House, and David Halpern, my longtime wonderful literary agent. I benefit greatly from his guidance and support.

Readers who wish to contact the author are invited to do so at [email protected]

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