Clark's novel follows in a long tradition.

Wilkie Collins popularized the mystery novel in Victorian times with his publication of The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868). Clark does not cite Collins as an influence, but she does acknowledge a literary debt to later turn-of-thecentury and early twentieth-century mystery writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. While she does not mention any contemporary influences or favorites (with the exception of her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, herself a fledgling mystery writer), a part of her success is owing to the flourishing interest in the thriller—whether the murder mystery, spy novel, crime novel, legal and medical thriller, police procedural, or horror story. Not only the book industry, but also the film and television industries have fueled and capitalized on the audience's desire for a thrill.

Often the same story is adapted to different...