Author Allan Evans Crafts Thrilling Reads

by Jennifer Pitterle | Oct 2024

Allan Evans. Photo: Jen Daly

Catch up with author Allan Evans about his latest crime thriller, a new paranormal YA novel and his writing inspiration.

Woodbury author Allan Evans published his debut novels—a paranormal YA adventure and a crime thriller—in 2021 to much success. By then, he was already hard at work on a sequel to Killer Blonde, his Twin Cities–set crime novel about detective Cade Dawkins. Then came the death of George Floyd and the subsequent unrest in the city, and Evans shelved the sequel. “I had no idea what to do with it,” Evan says. “So I went on to some other projects. Then one day, I was on the treadmill at the YMCA, and I got this idea, and it gave me goosebumps. I think in life, if you get goosebumps, you need to write about it.”

That treadmill epiphany shaped Killer Smile, the latest entry in the Cade Dawkins series, which was published last October. In the book, Dawkins meets with a computer science professor at the University of Minnesota who’s been researching the dark web. Evans says, “The professor tells Dawkins that his success in solving the Killer Blonde case created such a buzz that a new challenge has been issued: Come to Minnesota, and kill here.”

Evans himself works in copywriting and marketing, and says research is one of his favorite parts of the writing process. “It brings a lot of authenticity to the story,” he says. He’s done ride-alongs with various local police departments and met with the former head of security for former Govs. Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty. He even spent time with a Minnesota State Patrol traffic reconstruction specialist. “He walked me through the entire process of when they come upon a crime scene and how they handle it,” Evans says.

Despite all of the darkness in the Cade Dawkins crime series, Evans’ readers find plenty of levity in the pages, too. “I think the key to life in general is balance. I don’t want to go too dark,” he says. “Using humor offsets that darkness. And a lot of people, me included, deal with trauma or scarier moments sometimes with humor. It’s a deflection mechanism, a coping mechanism, so I always try to work that in.”

Readers might be surprised to know that Evans is a prolific brainstormer—he’s almost always working on more than one new project at a time, and he loves exploring new genres. His newest book, Spook Squad, will be released this month and is the third entry in his Abnormally Abbey YA series. Abnormally Abbey and the sequels follow 14-year-old Abbey Hill, who is pestered by ghosts and routinely finds herself in the middle of paranormal mysteries. “My daughter’s name is Abbey,” Evans says. “I decided I wanted to write something that she and her friends would be interested in reading.”

The books Evans is currently working on run the genre gamut. There’s a domestic thriller about a Minnesota couple visiting Paris; a White Bear Lake–set novel about a 15-year-old boy whose search for answers about his DNA turns mysterious; and a romantic comedy about two ad agency colleagues who begin as enemies and end up finding love as they coach middle school soccer. “I bring some of my own experiences to every book,” Evans says. “I’ve worked for ad agencies; I also coach middle school soccer.”

In addition to weaving in his real-life experiences, Evans says simply letting his mind wander provides plenty of inspiration. “If you let yourself embrace some boredom, your mind starts to make connections between different ideas, and that’s often what sparks that lightbulb.”