Buckley, Julia 1964-

PERSONAL:

Born December 30, 1964. Married Jeff Buckley, 1988; children: Ian, Graham. Education: Attended Valparaiso University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Chicago, IL. E-mail—julishka@sbcglobal.net.

CAREER:

High school English teacher and writer.

MEMBER:

Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America.

WRITINGS:

MYSTERY NOVELS

The Dark Backward, Midnight Ink (Woodbury, MN), 2006.

Also author of the Julia Buckley blog.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mystery writer Julia Buckley's first novel is the Macbeth-inspired The Dark Backward. Buckley decided to write mysteries because she has always enjoyed reading them. She grew up loving the romantic suspense novels of Mary Stewart, which she counts as an influence on her career, along with her fascination with Macbeth and the Watergate scandal.

Aspects of Watergate and Macbeth figure in The Dark Backward. "There are references to Watergate and Nixon in the book, and they are intentional," Buckley wrote on her Web site. "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." Of the relationship to William Shakespeare's "Scottish play," she pointed out: "Like Nixon, Macbeth believed, falsely, that he could not be vanquished." She intended the villain of the book, Nob Stevens, to be as monstrously evil as Macbeth has become at the end of the play. Also, Stevens, like Nixon, is a politician—in his case, a state governor.

Stevens becomes a murder suspect when police officer Lily Caldwell has a vision of him during a near-death experience after she and her partner are shot. Her partner dies, and Lily believes the governor is responsible for his death as well as for the murder they were investigating, the killing of a young woman seventeen years earlier. Lily initially has difficulty convincing anyone that Stevens could be a murderer, but she persists in pursuing him, even after she loses her job and alienates her husband.

Several critics found The Dark Backward an engrossing and effective mystery. Derek Hill, writing for the online Mystery Scene Review, thought the book's "muscular plotting and sharp characterizations" compensated for its occasional "far-fetched" tendencies. P.J. Coldren, a contributor to ReviewingTheEvidence.com, called the story "fast-paced, enthralling, and compelling," and noted that even "some of the seemingly minor individuals" among the characters added to the book's appeal. Who Dunnit reviewer Alan Paul Curtis reported that The Dark Backward "is well-written and contains the requisite amount of suspense," and he summed it up as "a fine murder-mystery" with "a most satisfying conclusion."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Erica Ridley Web site,http://www.ericaridley.com/ (June 8, 2007), interview with Julia Buckley.

Julia Buckley Home Page,http://www.juliabuckley.com (February 18, 2008).

Midwest Book Review,http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ (September, 2006), Debra Hamel, review of The Dark Backward.

Mystery Scene Review,http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/ (summer, 2006), Derek Hill, review of The Dark Backward.

ReviewingTheEvidence.com,http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (September, 2006), P.J. Coldren, review of The Dark Backward.

Romance Ever After,http://www.romanceeverafter.com/ (February 18, 2008) interview with Julia Buckley.

Spinetingler Magazine,http://www.spinetinglermag.com/ (February 18, 2008), Sandra Ruttan, "Julia Buckley: On Blogs, Books, and the Birth of Madeline Mann."

Who Dunnit,http://www.who-dunnit.com/ (February 18, 2008), Alan Paul Curtis, review of The Dark Backward.