LITERARY LOCAL | Annie Hansen of Batavia

ANNIE HANSEN, BATAVIA Give Me Chocolate and The Kelly Clark Mystery Series Annie Hansen’s inspiration for her first mystery novel in The Kelly Clark Mystery Series, Give Me Chocolate, was in part inspired by the famous 2001 Laci Peterson case where Laci and her unborn child were murdered by her husband. “What if the murder was avoided, lives were saved,” wondered Annie, “and families had to go on knowing a family member planned to kill within that intimate circle?”

The other part of this Batavia resident’s inspiration was influenced by the town next door - Geneva, in which the story is set. “I fell in love with Third Street and Graham’s Chocolates,” says Annie. “I was always fascinated with the staircase in Graham’s and thought, what if there were apartments up there and possibly an amateur sleuth?” She wanted to combine her love for Nancy Drew and Murder, She Wrote and came up with a new heroine, Kelly Clark, who lives over her sister’s dessert shop.

In Give Me Chocolate, Kelly Clark flees California and returns to her hometown of Geneva, Illinois to re-start her life after a horrific divorce from an abusive husband. Just when it looks like she’s getting her life back on track, she stumbles over a dead body. The suspicious death sends her hopes for a better future plummeting, making her wonder if the danger she faced in California followed her home to Geneva.

Annie has two more books currently in The Kelly Clark Mystery Series, Bean in Love and Take the Donut. Take the Donut has just recently been nominated and selected in the final three for the Soon to be Famous Illinois Author Project Award.

Annie, who also runs Hansen Search Group, a staffing company, with her husband, Brent, hopes to still find time to add two more books to the series. The books can be purchased through Amazon and Barnes and Noble and just recently became available at Anderson’s Bookstores. -Mindy Kyle, Photo Submitted KNOW A LOCAL AUTHOR? Introduce us at editorial@glancermagazine.com

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