The Cincinnati Strangler

In 1965, I was fifteen years old. My main interests were boys, learning how to drive and school, pretty much in that order. So I paid little attention to the news, never realizing how what was going on then in my city would mirror the novel I would write many years later.

You see, after my first Malone mystery was published, a friend asked me if the book was based on The Cincinnati Strangler. Since I'd never heard of The Cincinnati Strangler, I did some research and what I learned actually gave me chills. 

From October 1965 to December 1966, a man attacked, raped and murdered seven Cincinnati women. He strangled them, using either an article of their own clothing or something that was readily available to him. With one exception, the women were attacked in their homes. All of The Cincinnati Strangler's victims lived within a few miles of Westwood. The media dubbed him “The Cincinnati Strangler.”

The Cincinnati Police apprehended Posteal Laskey, a cab driver, after the last attack. He was arrested and convicted of the seventh murder. He never confessed to having committed any of the crimes but the attacks stopped when he was taken into custody. He died in prison in 2007. 

If you read Mixed Messages, much about The Cincinnati Strangler will sound familiar to you. Although I didn’t know about the real life case when I wrote my novel, there were a shocking number of  similarities between what I wrote and what actually happened. 

In Mixed Messages:  

The story begins the week of Halloween.
The Westwood Strangler attacked women in their homes.    
He used whatever was at hand to strangle them.  
There were seven victims.  

The Westwood Strangler was on the loose in a            neighborhood on the west side of Cincinnati. 

Was all of that a bizarre coincidence? Or, did my subconscious somehow retain memory of the crimes without my conscious mind realizing it? I guess I'll never know.

If I've piqued your interest, you can click on the cover on the right side of this page to read about the book and/or to order your copy.

October News: When Fiction Mirrors Real Life

In 1965-1966, my main interests were boys, learning how to drive and school, pretty much in that order. So I paid little attention to the news, never realizing how what was going on then in my city would mirror the novel I would write many years later.

You see, after my first Malone mystery was published, I learned something that actually gave me chills. From October 1965 to December 1966, a man attacked, raped and murdered seven Cincinnati women. He strangled them, using either an article of their own clothing or something that was readily available to him. With one exception, the women were attacked in their homes. The media dubbed him “The Cincinnati Strangler.”

The Cincinnati Police apprehended Posteal Laskey, a cab driver, after the last attack. He was arrested and convicted of the seventh murder. He never confessed to having committed any of the crimes but the attacks stopped when he was taken into custody. He died in prison in 2007.

If you’ve read Mixed Messages, much about The Cincinnati Strangler will sound familiar to you. Although I didn’t know about the real life case when I wrote my novel, there are so many similarities between what I wrote and what actually happened. Hence, the chills!

In the book, The Westwood Strangler attacks women in their homes and he uses whatever is at hand to strangle them – just like The Cincinnati Strangler. The Westwood Strangler is on the loose in a neighborhood on the west side of Cincinnati. All of The Cincinnati Strangler's victims were attacked within a few miles of Westwood. 

Without giving away my plot for those of you who haven’t read Unfinished Business, the sequel to Mixed Messages, I’ll let you in on a secret: the total number of victims for The Cincinnati Strangler and The Westwood Strangler is exactly the same!

Was it merely a coincidence that what I wrote all those years later so strongly paralleled what really happened? Or, even though I didn’t consciously remember the news stories, did my subconscious retain bits and pieces for all those years? I guess we’ll never know. 

Book trailer: http://youtu.be/ib9QTJItPA4

Buy link: http://tinyurl.com/o7wufnj 

A Halloween Mystery

One day back in 1995, shortly after I'd moved into a new apartment, I went for a walk in the neighborhood and I spotted an old Victorian. I've always loved old houses so I stopped, gazing up at it. I couldn't help but wonder what those walls would say if they could talk.

Intrigued, I wanted to find out more about the house and the area so I went to the Cincinnati Historical Society and immersed myself in research. The more I learned, the more certain I was that I wanted to write a mystery novel that took place there. Little by little, I began to come up with plot ideas and the characters who would live in my fictional version of the house. In April 2012, Mixed Messages was published!

Blurb:

It’s estimated that there are at least twenty to thirty active serial killers in the United States at any given time. There’s one on the loose on the west side of Cincinnati.

It’s the week of Halloween and Ann Kern struggles with several issues. Her primary concern is her marriage which, like her west side neighborhood, is in jeopardy. Her husband is drinking heavily and his behavior toward her is erratic. One minute, he’s the kind, loving man she married and, the next minute, he’s cold and cruel.

Ann dismisses a psychic’s warning that she is in danger. But, when she receives a series of ominous biblical quotes, she grows nervous and suspicious of everyone, including her own husband.

As the bizarre and frightening events unfold, Ann discovers a handmade tombstone marked with her name, pushing her close to the edge. Will she be the Westwood Strangler’s next victim?

Buy Link:

http://tinyurl.com/o7wufnj 

The eBook version of Mixed Messages is on sale for 99 cents on Amazon from Saturday, October 17th, through Wednesday, the 21st. 

When Fact Meets Fiction

I think every mystery writer has had this thought: What if someone reads one of my books and decides to copy the murder/s I’ve written about? There were episodes on Castle and Bones, two of my favorite TV shows, where that’s exactly what happened. I can only imagine how horrible that would feel. Of course, we're not responsible for the actions of someone else but still . . . Thankfully, what happened in my case was the exact opposite. Without knowing it, I wrote about murders that had already been committed.
 

You see, I learned something after the publication of Mixed Messages, my first Malone mystery, that actually gave me chills. A friend who had read the book asked me if it was based on the Cincinnati Strangler. I didn’t know what she was talking about so I looked it up online and my mouth fell open. 

From October 1965 to December 1966, a man murdered seven west side Cincinnati women. He strangled them, using either an article of their own clothing or something that was readily available to him. With one exception, the women were attacked in their homes. The media dubbed him “The Cincinnati Strangler.” 

In Mixed Messages and the sequel, Unfinished Business, there is a serial killer on the loose on the west side of Cincinnati and, just like the real Cincinnati Strangler, he attacked and strangled seven women in their homes, using items similar to those used by the Cincinnati Strangler. And, also like the Cincinnati Strangler, he was caught attempting to kill what would have been his eighth victim. 

But, in 1965-1966, my main interests were boys, learning how to drive and school, pretty much in that order. So I paid little attention to the news, never realizing how what was going on then (in my city) would mirror the novel I would write many years later.

Was it merely a coincidence that what I wrote so strongly paralleled what really happened? Or, even though I don’t consciously remember the news stories, did my subconscious retain bits and pieces for all those years?