Made To Be Broken (28 page)

Rebecca Bradley is a retired police detective who lives in Nottinghamshire with her family and her two Cockerpoos Alfie and Lola. They keep her company while she writes. Rebecca needs to drink copious amounts of tea to function throughout the day and if she could, she would survive on a diet of tea and cake.

She lives with the genetic disorder Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and secondary disorder to that, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. These are a part of her daily life and she has to adjust her days accordingly, but she still manages to commit murder and will continue to for a long time to come.

If you enjoyed Made to be Broken and would be happy to leave a review online that would be much appreciated, as word of mouth is often how other readers find new books to read.

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You can find Rebecca on her blog:
http://Rebeccabradleycrime.com

On Twitter:
http://Twitter.com/RebeccaJBradley

And on Facebook:
http://Facebook.com/RebeccaBradleyCrime

Please look her up, as she would love to chat.

My name is the one attached to Made to be Broken, but it takes so many more people than just the author to create a novel and this one has been no different.

I may know my police procedure, but I certainly don’t know my poisons or how they affect the body and I don’t know how to write a newspaper article and I don’t know the real world that high functioning Aspergers people have to contend with. So, it is with my deepest thanks and heartfelt gratitude that I acknowledge the following people for their help, expertise and guidance and ask for their understanding with any liberties I may have taken.

I am indebted to Denyse Kirkby, who helped me not only with Aaron during Made to be Broken, but who knew from the very off, as I wrote Shallow Waters, that Aaron was living with Aspergers and as a writer who lives with Aspergers herself, Denyse has been instrumental in making sure he is not a comedy version, but a genuine, functioning member of the team. This was important to both of us.

With thanks again to Lauren Turner for her expertise with Ethan. I found out just how different writing fiction and writing articles were during Made to be Broken and I’m sure Lauren must have laughed hysterically when I sent her my first attempt at an article. Any errors, as always, are my own.

For advice on arm injuries and mental health (a particularly important subject to portray in a manner to which it is based in reality) I have to thank, Rosie Claverton, who is both a doctor and author.

Now, poisoning someone. It’s not something you have to think about every day and asking the difficult questions of a pathologist can be quite unnerving. You never know quite what they’re going to think of you, but Dr Mark Stephens answered everything very calmly and without getting worried. So, thank you.

Thank you to the book club, Bookit!, at Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, run by Sadie Booth, for the advice given on labelling Isaac’s chapters, after a book club meeting where I wondered out loud about the best way to label two timelines for one character.

To Jane Isaac and Dave Sivers for trudging through an early draft that was making me want to give up writing all together. It made it to completion!

Thank you Jane, Lisa Cutts and Susi Holliday for providing me with such fabulous quotes. I adore you.

To all the book bloggers who have been so generous with their time when it came to launching Made to be Broken, thank you. The blogging community is a thriving and generous community and I am thrilled to be a part of it.

With thanks to my launch team who are great bunch of people who offered their time freely and have been a great support, thank you!

There are so many other people who have offered words of encouragement along the way, they are too many to name for fear of leaving someone out and offending, but to you all, I am truly grateful. To those who are responsible for making me laugh when I wanted to cry, when I wanted to tear this manuscript up into tiny pieces, you are always there and I am so grateful. We need drinks!

Without Keshini Naidoo, I would not have turned this from scrambled mess into something resembling a novel. I owe you so much gratitude. Thank you.

And Helen Baggott, thank you for the finishing touches, without which, it all falls down.

Finally, to those who I really couldn’t have done it without, Pete and our children, who always put up with me. And, there is a lot to put up with. Thank you.