Since There Was a Little Girl is part of a series, the most clearly related titles are also part of the series and the ongoing story of Matthew Hope and his adventures. While each novel can be read separately there is a gradual unfolding of his life in the collective set. Like the 87th Precinct novels, this is a timeless world but one in which both the characters and the details of the locale and its history do change episode by episode.

In the current novel Matthew is left in his coma at the story's end. As with any good serial the reader is left hanging, not knowing his fate. This is complicated further by the presence of both Patricia and Susan and by Matthew's memories about the two women. Will he try to get back together with his former wife or commit to his current...