Goodreads asked Lenny Cavallaro:

How do you get inspired to write?

Lenny Cavallaro I cannot easily answer this question, simply because I am simply "inspired" by the idea of artistic creation (whether literary or musical). However, I may be inspired by something I have read or something I know. For example, THE IBBUR'S TALE was prompted by the story of how my mother's aunt had a child out of wedlock while she was a teenager living in a pre-World War One shtetl. Once I had also read THE WARSAW ANAGRAMS (Zimler), I knew I wanted to write about an ibbur, and the two pieces fell into place. Similarly, the first of the Sherlock Holmes chess mysteries is a legitimate one: was Alexander Alekhine (the world chess champion) murdered? I read some intriguing arguments and ended up applying my own thoughts to fiction.

I suppose I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the bizarre, multi-genre sequence (THE PASSION OF ELENA BIANCHI). It was spawned by more family history: a song my father had composed for a woman named Maria some eleven years before I was born. I wondered what became of her. Throw in classical music, the Holocaust, the Mafia, and some mystical, paranormal elements, and voila! The series "happened"!

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