Happens every book. At least once.

I am by nature and by nurture very careful (read obsessive) about the facts in my historical fiction. I check and double check. Indeed, there’s no excuse not to these days when you can access so much material without even getting up from the desk and walking over to a bookcase.

Then there’s the process. This novel like all the others in the series was worked on by a line editor at Simon and Schuster, then sent back to me. I read it again and sent it back. Then it was read by a copy editor (in this case, two – long story, just accept it) and came back once more. I read it again. It got sent to a proofreader (the world’s greatest I know because I’ve worked with her before). And came back to me yet again. I had, in other words, three bites of the cherry, right? Trust me, it’s right.

So how come there can be a foolish and amateurish mistake on page 286 of City of Promise? To wit: “The gold,” Zac said, “is in Fort Knox.”

Never mind the context. Only thing that matters is that it’s 1873. And as the aforementioned Clarence Allen, informs me, Fort Knox was not called that until 1918 and there was no gold there until 1937.

How did I miss it? (And it was my error, not that of anyone else.) Because it’s always the things you are absolutely sure of that catch you out. I’ve heard/said/believed “all the gold in Fort Knox” my entire life. Never occurred to me to doubt that was as true for my characters as for me.

But all is not lost. In his e-mail telling me about this bit of simple historical fact Clarence Allen also tells me he loved the book, loves them all, and can’t wait to read more of what I write.

I am sooooo grateful. I love you Clarence Allen, and I promise we’ll fix it as soon as we have a new edition.