Melissa asked Theodora Goss:

Thank you for answering!! I had another thought after writing this question as I continued reading - after reading a description of Mary in book two, I felt compelled to ask if she might be named Mary after the Mary Debenham of Murder on the Orient Express? Your description of her mind reminded me very much of Poirot's description of that famous character. Her own trip aboard the Orient Express made me suspect a link?

Theodora Goss No, although I love that connection, and Mary Jekyll is temperamentally a lot like Mary Debenham! Actually I named her and Diana at the same time, and the idea came from the Victorian-era book The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, where one important character is named Mary and the other is Helen. One traditionally Christian name, one classical Greek name. That was the same split I wanted with Mary and Diana. :) Diana represents a sort of ancient wildness, and Mary is the opposite of that . . .

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