Inspiration?

 Authors are frequently asked "Where do you get your ideas?" The usual answer is "I haven't a clue - they just happen."

I subscribe to this opinion - I don't get "Inspiration" at least not that kind of inspiration, But I do recognise that there are certain ideas that interest me and those do get into the books. 

I've just finished reading the book on The Angel of Mons by David Clarke that I bought on the bookshop crawl a few weeks ago. It's a story that I have found fascinating for a long time - an incident early in the First World War when British soldiers claim to have been protected by some sort of supernatural intervention. Clarke dives deeply into the origins of the claims and the way the thing modifies and snowballs - troops are protected by angels, St George, the bowmen of Agincourt ... the idea of supernatural activity is taken up on the home front and is replayed in everything from letters to parish magazines. The tale is told over and over by witnesses who are claimed to be reliable sources. 

The "truth" will probably never be known. The story may have originated in a short story by author Arthur Machin. It is replayed by "a friend of a friend", not a direct witness. The public interest in spiritualism at the time provided a backdrop for the idea of otherworldly interaction. Like I said, the phenomenon is fascinating.

I don't write the kind of book where I would directly use that story, but the concept is one that does get into my plotting - the way gossip and rumour, hearsay and speculation can build a picture. It was one of the ideas that underpinned the family mystery in A Villa in Portofino - and the way that heroine Megan builds up a history of the aunt she never met that is based on logic but is not actually the real story. The new book, Riviera 4 (if it makes it into print) centres around a mysterious necklace with a chequered history. More rumour and speculation. 

It's obviously something that interests me. But  is it inspiration?