Growing up, I loved reading and daydreaming and wondering about the lives of other people. And I loved mysteries, especially Nancy Drew and Murder She Wrote. I was fascinated with the trails of clues and the entertaining characters, but also with the protagonists, who were fearless and always seemed to know what to do, and what to say. I wanted to be like that and I still do. Bennie is an homage to the brilliant amateur sleuth, but a little less perfect and a little more modern, even if she does live in a 1942 world.