I called my husband in a panic, explaining that I’d not followed the rules of mystery, and fortunately he said, “I wouldn’t worry about it, if I were you-just keep on doing what you’re doing.” Yet I had enjoyed writing my novel, playing with time, moving back and forth through history as I developed the narrative, and I’d allowed the characters to open up the plot because, frankly, I did not know how to “plot.” I had never made any sort of formal plan for the story, though I had an idea of how I should pace the beginning, the middle and the end-but along the way I had broken every so-called rule in the book. I had no idea about these things, and realized that I had written a novel that was, by those standards, a bit weird. Seasoned authors talked about the “three act format” and other elements of the mystery, such as how many pages should elapse before this or that event happens and when the villain should be introduced. I attended some panels and was taken aback to realize that there were different categories within the “genre”-cozy, traditional, thriller. My publisher arranged for me attend a convention for mystery writers and readers-I had no idea such events existed. Fortunately I had some ideas up my sleeve. Following the surprise of landing an agent and then an editor, imagine my additional shock when I was asked for the next book in the series. I didn’t consider it a mystery-in fact beyond referring to it as “my novel” I didn’t assign a category to the work.

So I wrote the story that was in my head. I knew who her fellow characters were and I knew she represented the spirit of her generation of women in Britain-the first generation of women in modern times to go to war. I knew she was no amateur and that her approach was unusual. I didn’t stop to consider such things as “genre” or “series”-I just wanted to write the story that had come to me while stuck in that traffic jam, about a WW1 nurse, who later became a trained psychologist and investigator. The character was a woman named Maisie Dobbs-the title of my first novel.

One day, stuck in traffic on the way to work, waiting for the cars ahead to move, I had an idea for a novel and a leading character-it was a moment of artistic grace, because by the time I arrived at work I had most of her story in my head.

Maisie dobbs series