BRECKSVILLE, Ohio – Connie Laux goes by many names: Casey Daniels, Kylie Logan and Mimi Granger are just a few of them. With each name comes a distinct voice, portrayed through Laux’s many book releases.
The Brecksville-based author has published around 65 books – many mystery and historical fiction – over the past 30 years.
It all started in early 1992, with “Twilight Secrets,” Laux’s first novel, which she published under the pen name “Constance Laux.”
“I had played around with some fiction writing but hadn’t really done much of anything with it. I had an idea for a story and I started working on it,” Laux said. “The more market research I did, the more I realized what I was writing was what the market was calling ‘historical romance.’ I didn’t really start out to write historical romance; I just realized that was what I was writing.”
Thirty years after that first book release, Laux hasn’t slowed down, dipping into mysteries, romances and adventures of every kind whenever inspiration strikes.
“My problem – if you want to call it a problem – I have these ideas, and they’re cool and sound like so much fun,” Laux said. “Then I think, ‘Oh, but that would be a mystery.’ Okay, I’ll write mysteries. Or, ‘Gee, that sounds like young adult. I think I’ll write young adult.’ A lot of it has to do with the kind of idea I have at that particular moment.”
Though Laux got her start writing historical romance, she switched gears in 2006 and honed in on the mystery format. At that time, Laux went to a job interview for a part-time tour guide position at Lakeview Cemetery, and though she didn’t get the job, she found inspiration for a character.
Soon she developed a paranormal series that follows Pepper Martin, a cemetery tour guide that solves mysteries for ghosts. The series – based in Cleveland – now contains 10 books, published under the name Casey Daniels.
Another Cleveland-based series arrived in her three-book Jazz Ramsey series published under the name Kylie Logan. The plot follows Ramsey, a cadaver dog trainer and amateur sleuth.
Her “Haunted Mansion” series, written under the name Lucy Ness, takes place in Northeast Ohio, too, following sleuth Avery Morgan as she solves murders with the help of a ghost. So does her “Love is Murder” series, which follows a Tinkers Creek romance bookstore owner as she solves more silly and whacky-focused murder mysteries in the 2021 debut “Death of a Red Hot Rancher.”
Next year, Laux plans on introducing a new name for a historical mystery series: Anastazia Hastings.
“The name I’m using depends on the kind of book I’m writing,” Laux said. “I’ve been a whole bunch of people.”
Laux’s books, released through Penguin Randomhouse and St. Martin’s Minotaur publishing companies, are usually written over the span of three or four months.
She said she learned her writing method from author Susan Wiggs, who suggested writing for 45 minutes without doing anything else – meaning, no checking emails or social media. Then, at the end of the writing sprint, you have 15 minutes to do anything you want. She repeats that process for the entire workday.
“It helps me focus on what I’m supposed to be doing, and I know there’s that little 15-minute carrot at the end of it,” Laux said. “That’s what works for me, and I’ve been doing it a long time, and writing mostly five days a week.”
As for the writing itself, Laux said she typically plots out the investigation process first, to make sure the mystery follows a logical path. After that, she works in subplots and relationships for characters. She’s then left with an outline, which she uses for individual chapters.
“It depends on how painful it is,” Laux said. “In general, once I turn a book in, it takes about a year before it’s published, so there’s a lot of lag time, but in that year, you’re also doing a lot of stuff. Seeing your editors’ notes, making changes, seeing copy edits, and then a proofreader sees it.”
Beyond her writing, she’s also involved in the Northeast Ohio chapter of “Sisters in Crime,” a mystery-writing organization “for sisters and misters,” Laux said. Find more information about the group at neosinc.org/wordpress.
Currently Laux has one book planned for 2022, in her “Love Is Murder” series: “Murder of a Mail-Order Bride,” set to release on Aug. 2. Other projects are also in the works.
Find more information about Laux at mystery-book-series.com.
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