Connie Lane
Author of Don of the Dead
About the Author
Series
Works by Connie Lane
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Laux, Constance
- Other names
- Laux, Constance
Laux, Connie
Lane, Connie
Deka, Connie
Logan, Kylie
Bliss, Miranda (show all 9)
Daniels, Zoe
Daniels, Casey
Hastings, Anastasia - Birthdate
- 1952-01-21
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Queen's College, Oxford (English Literature)
- Organizations
- journalist
writing teacher - Short biography
- Constance Laux was born on January 21 in Cleveland, Ohio. She remembers the day she got her first library card and the first book she took out of the Cleveland Public Library; Horton Hatches the Egg. She studied English Literature in the Queen's College in the prestigious university of Oxford. She married with her love of adolescence, and they live in a suburb of Cleveland with their two children, and an oversized Airedale named Hoover. Now, she is an U.S.American writer of romance novels as her real name and under the pen names: Connie Deka and Connie Lane. Writing as Constance Laux, she's published nine historical romance novels and as Connie Lane, she writes both category romance books and romantic suspense/comedy novels.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Places of residence
- Brecksville, Ohio, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Ohio, USA
Members
Reviews
I have never been quiet about how much I love this series. In fact I almost never read 'cozy' mysteries anymore and the truth of the matter is that Casey Daniel's "Pepper Martin" books truly are so much more than most cozy mysteries. It probably shouldn't even be considered on of that genre. Pepper is one of my favorite heroines. She is spunky, witty, and sarcastic. She also is tenderhearted and will do about anything for anyone, especially if you are one of those pesky ghosts she can see show more and communicate with.
"Supernatural Born Killers" finds Pepper starting in her new position at Cleveland's Garden View Cemetery. No longer is she guiding tours, now she is in charge of writing the newsletter, working on the cemetery's budget and helping to secure big donations to keep the cemetery flush. Pepper's relationship with Quinn is still a little rocky as well. He had his own recent supernatural experience but he still is stubborn in his anti-paranormal beliefs. He is a cop and he truly wants everything to be logical and fit together like puzzle pieces.
Then his ex-partner goes missing and Pepper knows he isn't alive. How? Cause she is seeing his dripping wet ghost! She and Quinn work together to try to find out what exactly happened to Jack and what all of this has to do with a big comic book convention that is coming to town.
I love that the Pepper Martin stories change. Life happens. There are job promotions, lifestyle changes, weddings, deaths. Crazy parents who show up wanting to suddenly move to town and join in their daughter's ghostly investigations. You know; all the real life stuff. Pepper is completely adorable and fun no matter what is happening. And I love that the author knows Cleveland so well and she weaves true Cleveland history into this novels. My favorite book of the series dealt with US President James A Garfield. Here she references extensively Superman and how the comics originated there.
"Supernatural Born Killers" is another great installment. I love these characters so much that I relish time spent with them again. The mystery was a lot of fun with the comic book angle. The bad guys were truly bad guys. And Quinn really delivered as Pepper's main squeeze. He almost became worthy of her in this book. If you haven't started this series yet, you should remedy that right away. Not only should you read these books but you should move them right to the very top of your to be read pile. show less
"Supernatural Born Killers" finds Pepper starting in her new position at Cleveland's Garden View Cemetery. No longer is she guiding tours, now she is in charge of writing the newsletter, working on the cemetery's budget and helping to secure big donations to keep the cemetery flush. Pepper's relationship with Quinn is still a little rocky as well. He had his own recent supernatural experience but he still is stubborn in his anti-paranormal beliefs. He is a cop and he truly wants everything to be logical and fit together like puzzle pieces.
Then his ex-partner goes missing and Pepper knows he isn't alive. How? Cause she is seeing his dripping wet ghost! She and Quinn work together to try to find out what exactly happened to Jack and what all of this has to do with a big comic book convention that is coming to town.
I love that the Pepper Martin stories change. Life happens. There are job promotions, lifestyle changes, weddings, deaths. Crazy parents who show up wanting to suddenly move to town and join in their daughter's ghostly investigations. You know; all the real life stuff. Pepper is completely adorable and fun no matter what is happening. And I love that the author knows Cleveland so well and she weaves true Cleveland history into this novels. My favorite book of the series dealt with US President James A Garfield. Here she references extensively Superman and how the comics originated there.
"Supernatural Born Killers" is another great installment. I love these characters so much that I relish time spent with them again. The mystery was a lot of fun with the comic book angle. The bad guys were truly bad guys. And Quinn really delivered as Pepper's main squeeze. He almost became worthy of her in this book. If you haven't started this series yet, you should remedy that right away. Not only should you read these books but you should move them right to the very top of your to be read pile. show less
This is my first foray into Ms. Logan's books, and I can't tell you whether I'll make another one or not. Later on in the review, I'll inform everyone why.
Maxie Pierce and her half sister Sylvia have taken over their father's business -- which is to go from place to place selling his chili ingredients and making chili so that customers will try it and purchase items. They belong to a group of people who travel from town to town doing this. Maxie's job is mainly to wear the Chili Chick show more costume and dance around to draw attention to their trailer. Sylvia mainly does everything else.
But it seems Maxie had a bad date the evening before with a man named Roberto, where he got into a bar fight and ignored her the entire evening, so when he shows up wanting to see her again, and pretty much telling her it's because she has a reputation on the circuit for being "easy." she has a very public fight with him. Then, when hotshot television chef Carter Donnelly shows up, she tries to get him to try some of her father's chili that she had already made, but her sister Sylvia tries to sabotage her by getting him to try some of her own creation. What ensues is a very childish scene in which Maxie accidentally spills her bowl of chili on Carter while trying to get around Sylvia; and when she opens Carter's RV to get a towel for him, the body of Roberto tumbles down on her.
Later on, she finds that Sylvia's been arrested for Roberto's murder, and Maxie decides to help her by finding out who killed him. She's also hoping for help from the hot security guard Nick -- whom Sylvia also has her eye on -- but he wants her to leave it to the police. So Maxie's working on her own, and trying to stay away from a killer...
This is the first in this series, and unfortunately it's going to be the last one that I'm going to read. First off, Maxie and Sylvia are downright nasty people. Sylvia is self-centered, selfish, mean, and an out-and-out horrible person, while Maxie is just annoying. We never get to find out why they hate each other. From what we're told, Sylvia is two years older than Maxie. So Jack left Sylvia's mother when she was younger than that to marry Maxie's, so it can't be memories of him leaving her, because there wouldn't be any. We also find out that he spent every summer with both his daughters, so it isn't because he never spent any time with her. So what's the reason? Her mother poisoning her against her father? Yeah, that's healthy.
Then we find out that Sylvia doesn't care whether her father is found or not. She's only in it for what she can get out of it (and I'm not explaining that any further). Maxie, however, loves her father and is in it so she can figure out where he is and bring him home.
But when Sylvia is arrested, she's on her own, and her personality doesn't get any better, either. We never find out what makes either of them tick, nothing about their personalities. We don't find out about Nick's background either. There just wasn't anything to bring us into the characters, to liven them up, to make them a little bit human. They were just words on a page.
When Sylvia was exonerated -- which we knew she would be, so no surprise there -- is she grateful? Nope. She goes right back to being the nasty person she is -- which should have made Maxie pack right up and go back to her home, wherever that is (we have no idea, of course).
Which means that the murder mystery wasn't interesting. If you can't invest in the characters, why invest in the mystery? In fact, when the book was finished, I turned the page and thought: where's the rest of it? Yep. That pretty much sums it up. Where's Jack? Who does Nick like? Why do the women hate each other? I absolutely detest books that give us cliffhangers. I always feel like we're being "held hostage," in other words, being forced to purchase the next book in order to find out what happens next. I abhor them. Because of this, I won't be reading any more in this series. show less
Maxie Pierce and her half sister Sylvia have taken over their father's business -- which is to go from place to place selling his chili ingredients and making chili so that customers will try it and purchase items. They belong to a group of people who travel from town to town doing this. Maxie's job is mainly to wear the Chili Chick show more costume and dance around to draw attention to their trailer. Sylvia mainly does everything else.
But it seems Maxie had a bad date the evening before with a man named Roberto, where he got into a bar fight and ignored her the entire evening, so when he shows up wanting to see her again, and pretty much telling her it's because she has a reputation on the circuit for being "easy." she has a very public fight with him. Then, when hotshot television chef Carter Donnelly shows up, she tries to get him to try some of her father's chili that she had already made, but her sister Sylvia tries to sabotage her by getting him to try some of her own creation. What ensues is a very childish scene in which Maxie accidentally spills her bowl of chili on Carter while trying to get around Sylvia; and when she opens Carter's RV to get a towel for him, the body of Roberto tumbles down on her.
Later on, she finds that Sylvia's been arrested for Roberto's murder, and Maxie decides to help her by finding out who killed him. She's also hoping for help from the hot security guard Nick -- whom Sylvia also has her eye on -- but he wants her to leave it to the police. So Maxie's working on her own, and trying to stay away from a killer...
This is the first in this series, and unfortunately it's going to be the last one that I'm going to read. First off, Maxie and Sylvia are downright nasty people. Sylvia is self-centered, selfish, mean, and an out-and-out horrible person, while Maxie is just annoying. We never get to find out why they hate each other. From what we're told, Sylvia is two years older than Maxie. So Jack left Sylvia's mother when she was younger than that to marry Maxie's, so it can't be memories of him leaving her, because there wouldn't be any. We also find out that he spent every summer with both his daughters, so it isn't because he never spent any time with her. So what's the reason? Her mother poisoning her against her father? Yeah, that's healthy.
Then we find out that Sylvia doesn't care whether her father is found or not. She's only in it for what she can get out of it (and I'm not explaining that any further). Maxie, however, loves her father and is in it so she can figure out where he is and bring him home.
But when Sylvia is arrested, she's on her own, and her personality doesn't get any better, either. We never find out what makes either of them tick, nothing about their personalities. We don't find out about Nick's background either. There just wasn't anything to bring us into the characters, to liven them up, to make them a little bit human. They were just words on a page.
When Sylvia was exonerated -- which we knew she would be, so no surprise there -- is she grateful? Nope. She goes right back to being the nasty person she is -- which should have made Maxie pack right up and go back to her home, wherever that is (we have no idea, of course).
Which means that the murder mystery wasn't interesting. If you can't invest in the characters, why invest in the mystery? In fact, when the book was finished, I turned the page and thought: where's the rest of it? Yep. That pretty much sums it up. Where's Jack? Who does Nick like? Why do the women hate each other? I absolutely detest books that give us cliffhangers. I always feel like we're being "held hostage," in other words, being forced to purchase the next book in order to find out what happens next. I abhor them. Because of this, I won't be reading any more in this series. show less
Don of the Dead is not the sort of book I would normally pick up. I am not a chick-lit reader of any sort, though I do enjoy a mystery now and then. The title of this book caught my attention and the back cover left me intrigued, so I picked up the book on a whim.
I was not disappointed.
Don of the Dead is a funny, fast romp with an unlikely twist for the heroine. Pepper Martin works as a cemetery tour guide in Cincinnati where there are more than a few famous dead. However, after a fall and show more blow to the head, she suddenly has the very unwanted ability to communicate with some of those dead. And right now she has to deal with a wise-cracking Mafia don who will continue to haunt her until she finds out who killed him.
Solving such an old crime is no easy task, even with the Don himself helping out along the way. Nor is it easy to have any kind of love life with Don Scarlotti watching over Pepper. She's determined to lay him to rest so she can have a little peace again!
This book is well-written, engaging, and fun. The main character is smart and sassy and Casey Daniels doesn't try the reader's patience by having Pepper make obvious mistakes in an attempt to keep the tension high in the story.
This is a delight to read. I even gave it to my husband who equally loved it. show less
I was not disappointed.
Don of the Dead is a funny, fast romp with an unlikely twist for the heroine. Pepper Martin works as a cemetery tour guide in Cincinnati where there are more than a few famous dead. However, after a fall and show more blow to the head, she suddenly has the very unwanted ability to communicate with some of those dead. And right now she has to deal with a wise-cracking Mafia don who will continue to haunt her until she finds out who killed him.
Solving such an old crime is no easy task, even with the Don himself helping out along the way. Nor is it easy to have any kind of love life with Don Scarlotti watching over Pepper. She's determined to lay him to rest so she can have a little peace again!
This book is well-written, engaging, and fun. The main character is smart and sassy and Casey Daniels doesn't try the reader's patience by having Pepper make obvious mistakes in an attempt to keep the tension high in the story.
This is a delight to read. I even gave it to my husband who equally loved it. show less
Pepper Martin: seer of the dead, daughter of a convict, guider of cemetary tours...this is probably the most charming character in paranormal mysteries currently. She is just so darn likeable! In the third installment Pepper finds herself tracing the murder of a sixties rock star. Unfortunately she also finds herself oddly attracted to the long dead crooner. There actually ended up being a couple of mystery plot lines which developed nicely into a cohensive and interesting conclusion. One show more thing I have to add to my two previous glowing reviews of this series by Casey Daniels is the fact that Pepper actually undergoes some self awareness and character development as the story line progresses. That's just another sign that Pepper Martin is not your average "I see dead people" storyline. Pepper has flaws, like everyone, but she shows time and again that she has a good heart. I gave it a four star review instead of a five simply because I think I enjoyed the previous two books slightly more than this one, although I can't really put my finger on why. As a whole, I can't recommend this series stongly enough. show less
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