Kathryn Caskie on the brainstorming potential of Q-tips, Sawyer -- with a twist -- and the one piece of headgear no girl should be without. Read on ...

MB: What or who inspired your novel?

KC: Oh, it's a wild string of strange, random events beginning with a Q-tip and ending with a prince. But isn't that where the best ideas come from?

I took part in the National Geographic genome project. The project tested DNA from people all over the world to track their ancestors' migration from their origin -- Africa, for everyone -- to whereever they ended up -- or when their genes stopped mutating.

To collect the DNA sample, I had to swab the inside of my cheek and pop the special Q-tip into a test tube (think CSI ). You might have seen Katie and Matt do this on the "Today Show."

After the DNA was processed, I was told that the specific "haplo group" I belonged to was so rare that one of the world's leading geneticists -- in China -- wanted more DNA overnighted for extensive testing. I said sure -- more cheek swabbing.

My grandmother has always been involved in genealogy, and honestly, I had to admit, this little mystery of the rarity of my genes was sort of cool. In the end, I learned that my genes point to Northern Russia. My family tree sweeps Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Russia, so no real shocker there.

Then ding, ding, ding -- story idea: What if my heroine discovered something about her lineage that was a complete shock? Since my stories are always set during the Regency period, I started thinking about what revelation would put a common Regency miss into a complete tailspin. Then it came to me.

I wanted to write a story about three sisters whose lives are turned upside down when their father dies and they learn that they know nothing about their family, and who they really are. Everything they thought they knew about themselves was a lie.

Because they may actually be the secret daughters of the Prince of Wales and his illegal, Catholic first wife, Maria Fitzherbert. How is that for a leap?

MB: What do you like most about your novel?

KC: I love the quirky characters that support all three of the novels. My favorites are the most unlikely of matchmakers, the members of The Old Rakes of Marylebone gentlemen's club.

Being elderly rakes, they know few bounds and they know all of the younger bucks' games.

MB: Who is the most heroic person you know?

KC: Oh, serious stuff. I don't know that I can narrow the list down to the most heroic person I know because it is my belief that heroes are all around us. We just don't always acknowledge them. They are people with incredible strength and fortitude despite the odds.

A friend lost her brother in 911 at the Pentagon, and yet she holds his family together, putting her own needs aside. The young men and women I met at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, who had lost limbs, but could still smile. The little girl who braved chemotherapy with a serenity beyond her years. These people are heroes to me.

MB: Who's your romance hero: dark, brooding bad boy or white knight in shining armor?

KC: My romance hero is always a bad boy with a wicked sense of humor and a good heart beneath it all. So if my book was the show "Lost," my hero would be Sawyer -- but with dark hair. Yummo.

MB: Answer the question you wish an interviewer would ask.

KC: Because every girl looks better in a tiara.