Carolinecarver asked Jacqueline Winspear:

How did you decide to choose WWI as your setting and time? It's lovely to watch Maisie's transition from young, tentative child to confident investigator. Did you have this in mind from the beginning or has she evolved as you started writing? The crime map is important to the cases; do you use a story map to plot your books?

Jacqueline Winspear Thank you for your questions, Caroline. As I have always said - WW1 chose me, not the other way around. I have been interested and curious about the history of the first half of the 20th century - really from childhood. I did not plan to write fiction, but had the idea to write about Maisie Dobbs whilst I was stuck in traffic on my way to work - what I call my moment of "artistic grace." She just grew from there. I am a very visual person, so I draw out the plot on a very large poster-size piece of paper when I set out to write a new novel.

flag