About Julia
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"Welcome to Webley, Illinois, the
background to this refreshing new
mystery series."
--Hope McIntyre
How to Marry a Ghost
background to this refreshing new
mystery series."
--Hope McIntyre
How to Marry a Ghost
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About Julia
Julia grew up in an Illinois suburb south of Chicago, the youngest of five children. Her
fictional Webley, Illinois is somewhere between her home town of Sauk Village and the
more rural areas of Crete, Peotone, or Kankakee. She attended Marian Catholic High
School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and many of her teachers were Springfield
Dominicans. She attests that they not only provided her with an excellent education, but
inspired some of the ideas for the sisters in the Madeline Mann mysteries (coming in
2007).
Julia attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where she majored in
English. She went on to teach high school English, and has continued in that profession
for seventeen years. She is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in English Literature
and teaching at an all-girls Catholic High School.
Her interest in mystery goes back to her teen years, when she and her mother, both avid
readers, used to exchange book recommendations. Julia's mom, Katherine, likes
mystery, suspense, and even the occasional horror story, so she had many novels to
recommend to her bookish youngest daughter. Julia's favorites were the Mary Stewart
novels, romantic suspense blockbusters popular in the sixties and early seventies.
Stewart's blend of intelligent, literate heroines and handsome, sometimes slightly tragic
heroes struck a chord in her, and Julia still claims Stewart as her favorite writer of all
time. Many of Stewart's titles or chapter headings are references to literature, and Julia
utilizes that theme as well in her first novel, The Dark Backward, which borrows a line
from William Shakespeare's The Tempest: "What see'st thou else in the dark backward
and abysm of time?" The Dark Backward has elements, Buckley asserts, of both
Watergate and Shakespearean drama, specifically Macbeth. "Watergate has always
fascinated me, especially the hubris of Richard Nixon and his belief that his defenses
were impregnable. There are references to Watergate and Nixon in the book, and they
are intentional. I wanted to suggest not only that power corrupts, but that if one man in
power could be so very deluded about his invincibility, so too could any number of
leaders, even leaders very much in the public eye," says Buckley.
In a similar vein, she admits that she has always been influenced by Macbeth, a play she
has taught for many years. "Despite its bloody content, it is truly a universal story in its
study of the psychology of ambition and of Macbeth’s transformation from good man to
murderer. Like Nixon, MacBeth believed, falsely, that he could not be vanquished."
Further, Buckley wanted the book to be very much about strong women, including not
only Lily, the protagonist, but every female supporting character. "I think that women
who defy the odds and the limitations placed upon them are inspirational to both male
and female readers," Buckley writes in her assessment of her novel.
Julia married Jeff Buckley in 1988, and they are raising two sons, Ian and Graham, in
their home in Chicagoland. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of
America, and Romance Writers of America, as well as an active writer's group that
gives her valuable feedback on novels in process. She is currently at work on both a
suspense novel and her latest Madeline Mann mystery. "I'm really fond of Madman and
her family, especially her brothers," Buckley says. "They're like my family once in a
while, and I did grow up with two brothers, (along with two sisters) but Madeline's
family is very distinct and very much its own entity. They make me laugh, which is why I
enjoy writing the series."To read a web interview with Julia, click here:
http://www.romanceeverafter.com/julia_buckley.htm
Julia grew up in an Illinois suburb south of Chicago, the youngest of five children. Her
fictional Webley, Illinois is somewhere between her home town of Sauk Village and the
more rural areas of Crete, Peotone, or Kankakee. She attended Marian Catholic High
School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and many of her teachers were Springfield
Dominicans. She attests that they not only provided her with an excellent education, but
inspired some of the ideas for the sisters in the Madeline Mann mysteries (coming in
2007).
Julia attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where she majored in
English. She went on to teach high school English, and has continued in that profession
for seventeen years. She is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in English Literature
and teaching at an all-girls Catholic High School.
Her interest in mystery goes back to her teen years, when she and her mother, both avid
readers, used to exchange book recommendations. Julia's mom, Katherine, likes
mystery, suspense, and even the occasional horror story, so she had many novels to
recommend to her bookish youngest daughter. Julia's favorites were the Mary Stewart
novels, romantic suspense blockbusters popular in the sixties and early seventies.
Stewart's blend of intelligent, literate heroines and handsome, sometimes slightly tragic
heroes struck a chord in her, and Julia still claims Stewart as her favorite writer of all
time. Many of Stewart's titles or chapter headings are references to literature, and Julia
utilizes that theme as well in her first novel, The Dark Backward, which borrows a line
from William Shakespeare's The Tempest: "What see'st thou else in the dark backward
and abysm of time?" The Dark Backward has elements, Buckley asserts, of both
Watergate and Shakespearean drama, specifically Macbeth. "Watergate has always
fascinated me, especially the hubris of Richard Nixon and his belief that his defenses
were impregnable. There are references to Watergate and Nixon in the book, and they
are intentional. I wanted to suggest not only that power corrupts, but that if one man in
power could be so very deluded about his invincibility, so too could any number of
leaders, even leaders very much in the public eye," says Buckley.
In a similar vein, she admits that she has always been influenced by Macbeth, a play she
has taught for many years. "Despite its bloody content, it is truly a universal story in its
study of the psychology of ambition and of Macbeth’s transformation from good man to
murderer. Like Nixon, MacBeth believed, falsely, that he could not be vanquished."
Further, Buckley wanted the book to be very much about strong women, including not
only Lily, the protagonist, but every female supporting character. "I think that women
who defy the odds and the limitations placed upon them are inspirational to both male
and female readers," Buckley writes in her assessment of her novel.
Julia married Jeff Buckley in 1988, and they are raising two sons, Ian and Graham, in
their home in Chicagoland. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of
America, and Romance Writers of America, as well as an active writer's group that
gives her valuable feedback on novels in process. She is currently at work on both a
suspense novel and her latest Madeline Mann mystery. "I'm really fond of Madman and
her family, especially her brothers," Buckley says. "They're like my family once in a
while, and I did grow up with two brothers, (along with two sisters) but Madeline's
family is very distinct and very much its own entity. They make me laugh, which is why I
enjoy writing the series."To read a web interview with Julia, click here:
http://www.romanceeverafter.com/julia_buckley.htm
