Here you will find coincidences, parallels, and simple trivia found in Lois Duncan books. If you find any yourself you can always email me.
LOIS DUNCAN & HER WRITING
- Lois Duncan's name is slightly a Pseudonym name. Her real name is Lois Duncan Steinmetz. Lois shorten it to Lois Duncan because when she started publishing, she didn't want people to think her work was being written by her mother, who was also named Lois Steinmetz.
- A lot of Lois Duncan's books are set the states New Mexico or Florida. Florida is where Lois Duncan grew up while New Mexico was where she lived for years.
- Even though Lois Duncan is popular for her Young Adult mystery/suspense books, she started off writing romance and real-life teen novels because, at the time, it was all she knew.
- Debutante Hill, a romance book, was Duncan's first published novel. She published it at age 20.
- Duncan's heroine personalities are a lot of times based on her daughters. Josie from Locked in Time as well as April from Don't Look Behind You are based Duncan's late daughter Kaitlyn. Kit from Down A Dark Hall is based on her daughter Kerry. The characters Nancy, Kirby, and Brendon from A Gift of Magic are based on Duncan's first three children.
- The incident in Gallows Hill, where Sarah revealed secret truths about fellow students (with the help of ear phones and Kyra) actually happened. Lois Duncan's mother played a gypsy at a Halloween carnival as a teenager. Duncan's mother dazzled everyone with supposedly "secret" information, just like Sarah in Gallows Hill. Lois Duncan was inspired by her mother's story to begin the plot for Gallows Hill.
- Lois Duncan stated that late daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, had a very rough time during her earliest teen years. A lot of mother and daughter "power struggles" between the two. Lois Duncan was horrified at the thought of a mother and daughter having this sort of struggle forever. Subsequently, the book known as Locked in Time was written.
- Many of Lois Duncan's character names are the same names from several of her short stories she wrote for magazines when she was younger. Some names include Laurie, Joan, Nancy, Sue, April...etc.
- From her autobiography Chapters: My Life as a Writer, Lois Duncan states that Mark from Killing Mr. Griffin was based on her older daughter's first boyfriend.
- The seasonal setting for The Third Eye was originally written in the Fall. But Duncann found it implausible for Karen to help police during school time. Duncan rewrote the novel a few weeks before school let out for the Summer.
- Even though Locked in Time was set in the Southern Louisiana, it was only until a few years ago, when Duncan went to a writing conference, that she ever set foot within the state.
- Lois Duncan has said she did like the movie Killing Mr. Griffin but absolutely hated the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. But this box office movie was a blessing in disguise for Duncan, who, at the time, was suffering financially (due to the ills and troubles that sprung after her daughter's murder). When the movie hit big, her sales of her back list titles skyrocketed.
- Two of Duncan's children are writers: Brett Arquette is an adult writer; Kerry Arquette is a children's writer.
- Lois Duncan has no desire to write anymore suspense novels, especially after the death of her daughter, Kait Arquette. She now spends her time trying to help families with unsolved cases.
PARALLELS AND COINCIDENCES
- A lot male characters in Lois Duncan are usually handsome, popular, arrogant, and self-centered (plus or minus). They usually expect their female companions to basically do what they want them to do. Five prime examples are Eric from Gallows Hill, Gordon from Stranger With My Face, Tim from The Third Eye, Peter from Daughters of Eve, and Larry from Don't Look Behind You.
- Karen and Laurie are similar in character. Both were:
- Modest when it came to their looks.
- Became popular through their popular and handsome boyfriends.
- Thought they were important because they were seeing a popular boyfriend.
When both characters became independent, they lost their boyfriends and their so-called friends through some psychic phenomenal incident.
- Summer of Fear and Gallows Hill have a two things in common:
- The two "witches" in Lois Duncan books are named Sarah. Julia from Summer of Fear is really a local girl named Sarah Blane who practiced witchcraft. Sarah Zoltanne from Gallows Hill was ACCUSED as a witch by her peers.
- In Summer of Fear "Julia" comes from a small town called Pine Crest in the Ozarks. The setting for Gallows Hill takes place in a town also called Pine Crest.
- Speaking of names, Lois Duncan tends to use names more than once: Helen from I Know What You Did Last Summer and Helen from Stranger With My Face; Ruth from Daughters of Eve and Ruth from Down A Dark Hall; Larry from They Never Came Home and Larry from Don't Look Behind You; Eric from Daughters of Eve and Eric from Gallows Hill.
- Lois Duncan also used the name Peter twice. Both were older brothers and the eldest son within the family. Rachel's older brother is named Peter in Summer of Fear while Ruth's older brother is named Peter in Daughters of Eve.
- Both Rachel's aunt and uncle from Summer of Fear and Laurie's parents from Stranger With My Face are similar in character:
- Rachel's aunt and Laurie's mother were both painters.
- Rachel's uncle and Laurie's father were both successful writers.
- Both couples secluded themselves from other people: Rachel's aunt and uncle lived in a wooded, secluded area from the village while Laurie's parents on an island far from the village.
- Jules from Down a Dark Hall and Gabe from Locked in Time are similar in character. Both were trapped between the desires of their mothers and their own. They also both fall for the main characters.
- When Nore arrives to Shadow Grove in Locked in Time, she meets her father's new wife. The word "death" flashes in her mind. A similar incident happened in Down a Dark Hall when Kit arrives at Blackwood. The word "evil" flashes in Kit's mind when she sees her new boarding school. Both incidents happen at the end of chapter one. Both when the main characters arrive at their new, temporary home.
- Other similarities between Down a Dark Hall and Locked in Time:
- Kit and Nore both reside in an old place that had to be fixed up.
- Kit and Nore had a parent that died.
- Kit and Nore's living parent re-married.
- Jules and Gabe (the love interests) help relieve the heroines of their problems.
- The maid who worked for the mistress in both novels were fired.
- Kit's father and Nore's mother make an "unexpected" visit from the grave (as a ghost).
- The last name Rheardon was used twice--in Daughters of Eve and Down a Dark Hall. Both last names belonged to some unfavorable person in each story.
- Both Laurie and Nancy idealized their parent's doomed relationship stories.
- In Stranger With My Face Lois Duncan mentions her daughter's name, Kerry Arquette, as the "actress" who played in a movie based on one of Laurie's father's novels.
- Characters painting their cars to hide the evidence of their guilty crimes happened in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ransom, and Killing Mr. Griffin.
- There are coincidences between Lois Duncan books and Kaitlyn Arquette's, Lois Duncan's daughter, real life murder mystery:
- In the book Don't Look Behind You, April was chased by a gunman in a Camaro. One month after the book was published, Kaitlyn was chased down and shot to death by a gunman in a Camaro.
- On the first British cover of Don't Look Behind You, the villain, Vamp, is peering at April through a window. The same drawing is strangely identical the psychic sketch of Kaitlyn's assumed hitman. Duncan believes it is a sign from Kait that her death was not a random shooting.
- The assumed hitman that killed Kait Arquette was named Vamp (as in vampire). In the Don't Look Behind You the hitman was also named Vamp, shorten for vampire.
- In the book Who Killed My Daughter?, one of the psychics that Lois Duncan and her family go to for help is physically identical to the psychic detective, Anne Summers, from the The Third Eye.
- Mike Gallagher was a reporter who helped Lois Duncan and her family reveal the truth about Kait's murder. The same name can be found in Summer of Fear. Mike Gallagher was Rachel's boyfriend's name.
- "Over the top" mothers are found in Lois Duncan books:
- Larry's mother from They Never Came Home and Barry's mother from I Know What You Did Last Summer thought their sons were perfect, which was far from the truth.
- Mrs. Drayfus from They Never Came Home as well as Mrs. Greg from I Know What You Did Last Summer are both sent to a psychiatric hospital because of their sons' misfortunes.
- Mrs. O'Connor from The Third Eye tries to live the life she wanted to live as a young girl through Karen.
- When Laurie finds out about her true heritage, her mother became very upset because she feels her role as a mother is threatened. She refuses to let Laurie find out about her past.
- Ironically, when Lois Duncan has a "high-strung" mother as a character in her novel, the fathers are usually logical and calm.
- Dexter from Ransom and Jeff from Stranger With My Face are similar in character. Both were aloof characters who were out-casted because of their deformity. Both fall in love with the main characters.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 01/10/06
