Author’s Note

I HAD A WONDERFUL TIME RESEARCHING SÉANCES FOR this book. I found lots of interesting information about how to do “cold readings,” which means how to make people think you know things about them when you really don’t. What I learned is that most people are eager to help a self-professed psychic and will try to find meaning in anything that is said, no matter how vague or meaningless. This is called “subjective validation,” which is the process of validating words, initials, statements, or signs as accurate because one is able to find them personally meaningful and significant. If you go back and read Serafina’s “readings,” you will find that the subjects were the ones who found meaning in them and that she gave them few, if any, real facts. I’m afraid I’m even more of a skeptic since researching the subject than I was before, but I do still enjoy getting my Tarot cards read.

When I got to the end of the story, I realized I needed to give Maeve a way of lighting up the dark room. I thought immediately of a flashlight, so I looked up when they were invented. Sure enough, the first ones were developed in 1896, the year before this book takes place. The lights performed poorly, so they were not successful, but the inventor gave some to the police department. Even though the flash of light didn’t last very long, the police on the night shift found them very useful and gave the new invention favorable testimonials. Inventors improved the batteries that powered the lights so they no longer flash as they did in the early days, but the name seems to have stuck just the same.

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Victoria Thompson