A tolling bell, a frantic run through the woods, a sudden loss of memory, and a bloodied wedding dress… these haunting dreams carry deep significance for Hannah throughout the books.
A recurring theme in the Hannah Walker Mystery Series, from its very beginning, has been the vivid dreams that Hannah experiences. When I created the character, I wanted her to possess a particular, almost uncanny gift, and those dreams became a central element of her identity. A piece of advice I give readers is to pay close attention to the details in Hannah’s dreams, because often those images and sensations are the subtle clues that will ultimately guide them toward uncovering the killer. Hannah is a layered, complicated protagonist who strives to be the best version of herself despite numerous setbacks. Time and time again she crosses paths with people who betray her or reveal themselves to be downright malevolent. One pattern I noticed early on is how specific encounters trigger recurring dream sequences: after meeting certain characters, Hannah will fall asleep and find herself sprinting down a deserted hallway, only to be shot at the far end while a bell tolls; in other instances she is haunted by visions of the person responsible in the first book—phantom figures racing through moonlit woods—images that linger long after she wakes.
The sudden loss of memory played a major role in shaping Hannah’s character. As the protagonist, she endures real hardship. When I began writing the second book I kept asking myself, “What could I do to Hannah that will deeply affect every character she encounters?” I thought, “Wouldn’t it be powerful if Hannah suffered even more by losing her memory?” Even after that loss, she still experiences fractured premonition dreams from before the amnesia, and those visions ultimately help her solve the final clue and save Rafael.
A bloodied wedding dress. The very image of the wedding Hannah wonders whether she will ever have. At the start of the third book Hannah is blissful—she is about to marry the love of her life—until Rafael is struck down. As the story unfolds, she is tormented by a recurring nightmare in which Jonathan is shot and her wedding gown is soaked in blood. Moving forward, I will explore Hannah’s backstory and the origins of her premonitory dreams in greater depth.
