She wrote the book in 1995 and says she didn't have the close contacts with police then that she has now. Mo. After her grandmother's death, McBride decided to stay in St. Louis, home of her maternal ancestors for several generations. McBride also says she didn't set out to create a detective series built around Maggie Ryan, though she's the hero in two books already and is likely to appear in several more. In fact, she created Maggie as a somewhat flawed character because she was trying to make a special point. I was sick of it.
Awful things happen to people all the time.
You're given a brain and you can use it to decide if you're going to be a good person or an evil person. I wanted to show somebody who came out of something awful and still wanted to be a good person. She's not afraid to stick her neck out in the interests of justice, which she certainly does in the book. She's also likely to break a few rules when it comes to proper police procedures. So far, Maggie is single, like McBride, and uninvolved with the men in her life.