Professionally, things could not have been working out any better for Nikki Van Noy.

The Harvard graduate had signed a contract with publisher Simon & Schuster to write a book about Dave Matthews Band, her favorite group, and its fiercely loyal fans. The book deal gave Van Noy, 33, free rein to traipse around the country, attend concerts and talk to fellow devotees about their experiences with DMB.

Personally, however, these were her darkest days.

Van Noy's brother, Nicholas, 27, whom she described as her best friend, died unexpectedly in December 2009. The pain of his death made it difficult for her to concentrate on researching and writing "So Much to Say: Dave Matthews Band, 20 Years on the Road," which was released in June.

But the hard work helped her navigate those difficult times.

"The book saved me in so many ways because it gave me something to focus on," Van Noy said during a telephone interview from her Boston home. "I had to get out of bed and I had to write this book, and I'm so grateful for that."

Sadly, her tragic loss was mirrored by a death that the band and its fans were to struggling with as she was working on the book. LeRoi Moore, the band's saxophonist, died unexpectedly in August 2008 of injuries suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident.

"There were people affiliated with the band that I was talking to as this book was going on, so I actually heard a lot about them dealing with LeRoi in very powerful ways right before my brother died," Van Noy said. "The timing was kind of weird because that sense of loss was very prominent in my life."

Van Noy also pointed out that many of Matthews' songs deal in unflinching fashion with death, loss and grief. Those themes are inextricably woven into the fabric of Matthews' music from the release of "Under the Table and Dreaming," the band's major-label debut in 1994, to 2009's "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King," a tribute to Moore.

nHer book begins in 1991, when the band first started playing live, and ends this year. Though "So Much to Say" is essentially a narrative history of the band, it is told through the voices of DMB's most ardent fans, those who have formed a tight-knit community that follows the band from venue to venue.

Van Noy never got the chance to interview Matthews himself but did sit down with Stefan Lessard, the band's bass player since the age of 16.

"I'm not going to lie: It would have been great to have Dave in there, but that was just not what this book really was about," she said. "Having said that, I'm so glad Stefan is in there. ... Stefan is the band member that makes the most sense. He really is out there and understands the fan community."

Van Noy's book, written from a fan's perspective, is lively and insightful. She is able to communicate why DMB is so important to its most dedicated fans and what makes the band worthy of such devotion.

That said, there's no question the book caters to those die-hard fans and will likely be of little interest to those who go to the shows to hear the radio hits and do not immerse themselves in the DMB fan community.

The book's most interesting chapter deals with the release of "Everyday" (2001), a Glen Ballard-produced album many fans view as a trip down the middle of the road. Around the same time, however, bootlegs of songs recorded with producer Steve Lillywhite, dubbed "The Lillywhite Sessions," started circulating.

Many fans believed these songs, which DMB would re-record and release as "Busted Stuff" in 2002, were the legitimate successor to the 1998 album "Before These Crowded Streets."

The chapter perfectly illustrates the devotion and seriousness of DMB's fans, and the emotional investment they've made in the music.

nVan Noy believes, and most DMB devotees would agree, that the live shows - not the studio albums - make the band special.

"One of the staggering things about them to me is that they can create a sense of intimacy even when they are playing amphitheaters," said Van Noy, who estimates that she's seen about 75 DMB shows. "That's a pretty amazing thing, I think, to be able to do."

In the wake of her brother's death, however, Van Noy said it was the travel from show to show that was most difficult.

"We were best friends, and our big thing to do together was always to travel and listen to music," she said. "We loved driving across the country together. So I spent a lot of time on (Interstate) 80, that same freeway, through the same states we had gone through. And that was very bittersweet because, in some way, it felt like the best way to remember my brother. In other ways, it really kind of brings home to you that feeling that something is missing and someone's not there who should be there."

The book's dedication reads, "For my little brother and favorite musician, Nick, who taught me that two things are eternal, love and music."