Kathleen asked Julia Buckley:

Curious but does the plot of The Lost Child mentioned in A Dark and Stormy Murder come from Mary Stewart's Nine Coaches Waiting? One of my all time favorite books! From that and your introduction I presume Camilla Graham is Mary Stewart? Well, if you can't work for Mary Stewart these days, recreating her for as the boss of your own protagonist has got to be the next best thing!

Julia Buckley What a great question. I actually noticed a pattern in Mary Stewart books of heroines bonding with children (just as Camilla creates these bonds with her characters). So yes, the bond between the governess and the boy Phillippe in NINE COACHES WAITING is one of them, but also the heroine and a young man (it's always a boy, except in THE IVY TREE) in AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND, MADAM WILL YOU TALK, and THE MOONSPINNERS are among my favorites.

I take it you are also a big Mary Stewart fan? Camilla isn't officially Mary Stewart, but she does represent my love of that author. :)

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