Goodreads asked Jess Montgomery:

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

Jess Montgomery The character of Lily Ross is inspired by the true first female sheriff in Ohio--and one of the first in the United States--Maude Collins, who became sheriff in 1925 when her husband was killed in the line of duty.

Our younger daughter attended Ohio U., and while researching places to visit in the area, I ran across the web page for Vinton County and discovered their piece on Maude. The page included a photo of Maude, who looked tough yet vulnerable at the same time.

In Maude's case, there was no mystery about who killed her husband--there were witnesses, and the circumstances were straight forward.

But I started wondering... what if a sheriff was murdered in 1920s Appalachia and there were no witnesses? What if the murder was anything but straight forward. And what if his wife, like Maude, was assigned to fill in his role, but unlike Maude, had no idea who had killed her husband or why, and decided she had to find out?

From those "what if" questions, I created Lily Ross.

THE WIDOWS is told from the points of view of Lily Ross and another strong female character, Marvena Whitcomb--a long time friend of Daniel Ross. Marvena is partly inspired by Mother Jones, as Marvena is an organizer in the local coal mining area.

Lily and Marvena--as well as so many of the secondary strong female characters--are also an homage to strong women in my background.

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