Goodreads asked Jess McFarlane:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Jess McFarlane I got the idea for Widow's Flame after going through a really tough time in my personal life. I was also battling chronic pain from Endometriosis, as I was still a year away from my surgery. There was a lot of pent-up emotion within me, especially grief and anger. I think Blair Ryan was moulded out those feelings of injustice. The context of her story, however, was inspired by the fact that I just love the Western genre. I love the themes it presents and the horses, the gunfights, the natural environment of North America. I could hear Blair's strong voice pretty much right away; feel her anger, because I guess it was my own, but in other ways. I could picture her, sitting in the Salmon Leap, drinking away her days, scornful. With Colin, I could immediately see him being her anchor, in the storm of emotions consuming her. I could see his life and the way it shaped him into the man he is, fighting in a mud pit in a country foreign to him. And the story flourished from there.

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