The Body in Bodega Bay: A Nora Barnes and Toby Sandler Mystery

Acknowledgments

221 Acknowledgments Andrei Rublev is an important figure in Russian art, but the triptych on which our plot depends is fictitious, as are the characters and events in this novel. However, even a work of fiction depends on facts, and we are grateful to the generous people who provided us with information and assistance. We want to thank Barry Bauman, art conservator, for patiently answering e-mail queries regarding icon conservation and restoration, even taking time out from his vacation to do so. James Jackson of Jackson’s International Auctions in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was generous in sharing with us some of his vast knowledge on the subject of Russian icons and their history in the United States. We are grateful to Susie Silverek, formerly of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office, who informed us about jurisdiction and procedures for criminal investigations in the county and particularly in Bodega Bay. Jonathan Davis, of the Links at Bodega Harbour, was kind enough to answer questions about that marvelous golf course. Many thanks to Caitlin Woodbury for enjoyable conversations that yielded facts and color regarding life in Sonoma County. Thanks, too, to Barbara Flaherty, whose salon, The Premiere of Windsor, Wisconsin, is the model for Angie’s hair emporium in Gloucester, Massachusetts. 222 Our research took us to several local libraries. David Dodd, Reference Librarian at the Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, helped us find back issues of the San Francisco Chronicle using the library’s files on microfilm . Katherine J. Rinehart, Library Associate, History and Genealogy Library of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, assisted us with locating information on Rose Gaffney, the “Hole in the Head” protests at Bodega Bay, and the filming of The Birds in Bodega Bay. Thanks to guide Lisa Gurian for her informative tour of Fort Ross and to the staff at the Fort Ross library. We also relied on a number of books and articles for information. An invaluable source was Searching for Icons in Russia by Vladimir Soloukhin, translated by P. S. Falla (New York: Harvill Press, 1971), which served as our model for describing the process of removing darkened drying oil from the surface of old icons. On the subject of Russian icons, we also consulted, among other works: John Stuart, Ikons (London: Faber, 1975); Kate Cook, trans., A History of Icon Paintings: Sources, Traditions, Present Day (Moscow: Grand Holding, 2005); Robert C. Williams, Russian Art and American Money, 1900–1940 (Cambridge , Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980); Susan Wiley Hardwick, Russian Refuge: Religion, Migration, and Settlement on the Northwestern Pacific Rim (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993). We learned about the practice of angel reading through the works of Doreen Virtue, notably The Angel Therapy Handbook (Carlsbad, Calif.: Hay House, 2011). Thanks to Zebunissa Collier, an angel reader and speech language pathologist in Petaluma, California, for pointing us in her direction. Much gratitude also to Zebbie’s sister Rebecca Printen, yoga instructor extraordinaire, for introducing us to Zebbie. We also consulted David Albert Jones’s Angels: A History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). Readers who found the cosmological table talk in chapter 6 of interest might want to try Jim Holt’s Why Does the World Exist? (New York: Norton, Liveright, 2012) for a deeper treatment of the subject. On Hitchcock and Bodega Bay, we thank Michael Draine, who sent 223 us Kyle B. Counts’s “The Making of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds,” Cinefantastique 10 (Fall 1980): 14–35, which proved very useful. We also benefited from “The Birds by Hitchcock,” Sonoma Coast Guide, no. 25 (April 2005), a special issue devoted to the film; and Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal’s Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco (Santa Monica, Calif.: Santa Monica Press, 2002). We should add that any misstatements or errors of fact in this novel are inadvertent and solely our responsibility, not that of our sources or informants. We are grateful to Jerry Peterson, for his advice on how to improve the manuscript, and to our editor, Raphael Kadushin, for his steadfast support. Finally, heartfelt thanks to friends and family for encouraging us and for sharing our pleasure in the adventures of Toby and Nora. ...