Lili Flame Investigates: The Mystery of the Circus Woman

Laura Andersson

Laura Andersson has been working in the publishing industry for 15 years. During her career she’s been involved in launching a YA book festival in Finland and creating an award-winning publishing program for the Finnish gaming mega-brand Angry Birds. Andersson is a long-time fan of both Agatha Christie and the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, both of which have inspired Lili Flame. She also found inspiration in the life story of Finland’s first female president, Tarja Halonen. The stylishly old-fashioned name of Ms. Halonen’s mother, Lyyli Loimola, made her first think of the character of Lili and about the possibility of creating a cool, historical crime series. Prior to writing Lili Flame, Andersson had been teaching Finnish parents and their babies good sleep habits, and her autobiographical non-fiction book The Baby Sleep Project, has become required reading among Finnish families. Andersson was born, and continues to live, in Helsinki, Finland. She loves her city deeply, and its historical layers keep feeding her imagination. She’s most curious about those aspects of the city’s past that are not part of the official historical narrative. In her free time, Andersson is passionate about books, horses, wine, and the circus.