Sherrie Hanson

Local Iowa author and innkeeper of the Blue Belle Inn in St. Ansgar, Iowa, Sherrie Hansen will be giving a presentation at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the large meeting room of the Austin Public Library discussing her newest novel “Blue Bell,” A Wildflowers of Scotland Novel.

Counting a novella, this is the eighth book that Hansen has written and the third in the Wildflowers of Scotland series coming after “Thistle Down” and “Wild Rose.” Fourth novel, “Shy Violet,” is being targeted for release next spring, according to Hansen.

The plot centers on the main character Isabelle.

“Isabelle is a reporter from Virginia that trusted the wrong person and got burned,” Hansen said.

“As an investigative reporter, she’s humiliated that she trusted the wrong person. She wants the truth and nothing but the truth,” Hansen said

The book also features Michael who is in Scotland because of a truth that would have ruined his sister’s marriage and betrayed her confidence.

While Hansen’s books have in the past centered on romance, these books feature romance, intrigue and even modern day pirates as they are also after Isabelle, afraid she is trying to dig up their secrets.

“There are bad guys looking for gold in Tobermory Bay, trying to recover gold from 1588, and they are convinced that Isabelle is trying to figure out what they are doing,” Hansen said.

The books takes place in the Tobermory Bay, where not only are the bad guys looking for gold, but where Michael is renovating a family castle as well.

While the four books are part of a series, they don’t require reading one before another.

“In the true sense, this is not a series where you have read one before the other,” Hansen explained. “[Past] characters do make an appearance, but the plots aren’t hooked together other than they are all set in Scotland.”

Hansen said the ideas for her books come from a variety of places.

“My generic answer is that part of my stories are built on snippets of truth that happened to me or things I read in the newspaper,” Hansen said. “The snippet becomes a story.”

Tuesday’s free event is slated to begin at 6 p.m. and go for an hour. During that time, Hansen will give a power point on Scotland and will discuss the three current books set there and the places they involve.

Hansen said the move to add mystery and bad guys was to meet what readers had been looking for.

“For people who have read my earlier books, they were straight romances,” she said. “The last three have mysteries, bad guys, kidnappings and murders. I’m delving into a genre where people enjoy the added intrigue and murder.”

Hansen is also doing more to let humor come through in her books, particularly in books she’s writing that have different takes on books like “Charolette’s Web.”

“People have said I have a strong sense of humor in my books, and maybe that was something I wasn’t letting shine through before,” she said. “In ‘The Wicked Web that Charlotte Wove,’ I’m really having fun. I find having my humorous voice shine through is a different experience.”