Inherit the Dead

again,” said Gawain.
    “You do that,” said Perry.

    It was cold out on the dunes, but after Gawain had handcuffed Angel and the police and EMTs had all driven away, Perry lingered a while, looking up at the stars and moon. He thought about Derace McDonald and the girl he had found but could not save, and he thought about Angel, the girl he’d found who didn’t need saving.
    The police sirens had long faded, replaced by the sound of the ocean and the howl of the wind, and Perry wondered who was going to inherit all that money. Then he decided he didn’t care.
    He wound Nicky’s scarf around his neck and turned away from the ocean, thinking about his daughter and how he would call her in the morning.

Acknowledgments
    Organizing twenty writers can be a difficult task, but this one was made easy. First, because David Falk entrusted me with the assignment; second, because of Michelle Howry’s astute editing; third, because Stacy Creamer stood back and let me do my thing with her blessing; and fourth, because I was following in the footsteps of Andrew and Lamia Gulli, who edited the last serial novel and got the ball rolling.
    Of course the real thanks must go to the writers. I don’t think there is a more supportive or generous group of writers around, all of whom understood that we were playing with three or four noir classics at once, who followed the plan and yet made each chapter their own. They were indeed a dream team.
    —JONATHAN SANTLOFER

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
    MARK BILLINGHAM is one of the UK’s most acclaimed and popular crime writers. His series of novels featuring D.I. Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel of the Year Award and been nominated for seven CWA Daggers. Each of his novels has been a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller. A television series based on the Thorne novels starred David Morrissey as Tom Thorne. Mark Billingham’s latest novel is The Dying Hours .
    LAWRENCE BLOCK has been writing for so long he’s accumulated several life achievement awards—his colleagues’ gentle way of telling him his future lies largely in the past. One can but hope he’ll get the message. Meanwhile his latest book is Hit Me, the author’s fifth novel about that wistful urban lonely guy, Keller, philatelist and hit man.
    C. J. BOX is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels including the award-winning Joe Pickett series. Box has won the Edgar Award for Best Novel as well as the Anthony, Macavity, Barry, and Calibre .38 awards. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Box lives outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. His most recent novels are Breaking Point and The Highway .
    KEN BRUEN is the author of over twenty novels, and has a doctorate in metaphysics.
    ALAFAIR BURKE is the bestselling author of nine novels, including If You Were Here, Long Gone, and the Ellie Hatcher series. A former prosecutor and graduate of Stanford Law School, she now teaches criminal law and lives in Manhattan.
    STEPHEN L. CARTER is the bestselling author of five novels and eight non-fiction books. He is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale, where he has taught for more than thirty years. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School and lives near New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Enola Aird.
    LEE CHILD has been a television director, union organizer, theater technician, and law student. He is the author of the Jack Reacher novels. He was born in England but now lives in New York City and leaves the island of Manhattan only when required to by forces beyond his control. Visit www.leechild.com for more information on his books, short stories, and Jack Reacher, the movie starring Tom Cruise.
    MARCIA CLARK , former O. J. Simpson prosecutor, has published three novels that feature Los Angeles special trials prosecutor Rachel Knight: Guilt by Association, Guilt by Degrees, Killer Ambition, which is due out in June 2013. Marcia is a frequent legal commentator on television and radio, and her books have been optioned by TNT for a one-hour drama series, currently in development. Marcia is attached as an executive producer. She’s currently at work on her fourth novel.
    MARY HIGGINS CLARK ’s books are worldwide bestsellers. In the United States alone, her books have sold more than one hundred million copies. Her latest suspense novel, Daddy’s Gone A Hunting, was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2013. She is an active member of Literacy Volunteers. She is the author