Wendy asked Nikki Kitchen:

How did you research the background for this book?

Nikki Kitchen Researching my books is one of my favorite parts of the writing process. One of my professors taught me that you can't look at history through today's eyes. You have to take yourself out of the present mindset and try to understand what you're studying, not judge it. That helped me not only in school but it helps a lot when studying subjects, such as the Mafia. The Mob has a bloody past and I am not one for blood and wars.

To research the Mafia Series I went online and started searching. Some information was hard to find but I did find some informative documentaries. Ex-members of the Mafia were interviewed and gave detailed information. A cop who infiltrated a Family was also interviewed. I watched another documentary on the history of the Mafia. I was going to watch a few Mob films, such as the Godfather, but I couldn't get very far into any of them. What I did watch helped me get into the mindset a bit.

As I started writing I knew I didn't want to follow the structure of the Mafia because they have a scam going, take their cut, and kick the rest up the food chain. I wanted a more organized business like setting. There also isn't a Matriarch, I created this position. At the beginning of Mafia Princess Nora is in the car talking with Conner and she snaps at him, telling him he can't talk to her the way he is because she's the Matriarch. Just before I wrote that I decided I had to give her some kind of role in the Family, a high ranking one. If she was just Brendon's daughter she would be nothing. She had to have some kind of power or the men would walk all over her. However, when I gave the history of the Mafia, that is true. The jobs such as enforcer, insurance, prostitution, fixing sporting events, ect... are all true.

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