Back
to Press PageMysterious Midland
couple publishes book
By Amy Matzke
Sunday, July 22, 2007
A Midland couple likes to think of interesting ways to find out how people were
killed. Joyce and Jim Lavene write mystery novels, and they often see things in
the news or real life that inspire them to think of ways to kill people, and
then have the hero figure it out.
“Mysteries are about justice,” Joyce said. “Real life isn’t like that. In the
book you know the bad people will get caught by the end.”
The Lavenes, who have been married for nearly 34 years, didn’t always spend
their time thinking about death. They owned an office supply store called J&J
Supplies for 15 years in Charlotte before starting with romance novels in 1995.
Both have enjoyed reading and writing for years, but the couple had never
written books until their children, Christopher, Jennifer and Emily, graduated.
“It took empty nest syndrome to start us writing,” Jim said. “We said why not do
it together?”
Their first book was published in 1999, but the couple quickly decided to get
out of the romance novel business because of the short shelf life of the books.
Their first mystery series - which now has 12 books - was based on something the
couple saw on the news about the first woman sheriff elected in North Carolina.
So they created a woman character named Sharyn Howard and set her in a small
Uwharrie Mountain town based on Albemarle.
“In mysteries, you do so much plotting, and we love to plot,” Jim said. “You
have to have a good plot, good characters, and resolve it. And pretty much
anything can happen in mysteries.”
They have gone on to write series about an ongoing Renaissance fair, based on
the Renaissance Festival in Huntersville; a pet psychic series based in
Wilmington; a garden mystery series, set in Charlotte; and a stock car racing
series, set at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord.
They don’t have a favorite book, because whatever one they are working on
becomes the focus, Joyce said. “Each one is special and different,” Joyce said.
“It’s like picking a favorite kid.”
Their kids and family serve as copy editors for the rough drafts, which are
usually about a year in development and three years to write. After it goes to
editors and the publisher, the books take about two years from start to finish.
“When it’s in print, we say, ‘wow, we wrote that?’ ” Joyce said.
“And then we look back at older books and say, ‘can we revise that?’ ” Jim
added.
The couple writes in their home office facing each other over back- -to-back
monitors. Jim does the typing as they go through the story, and sometimes likes
to add in his own jokes, like writing “sweatheart” instead of “sweetheart,” to
bother Joyce. No matter what, they write at least 2,000 words per day, Joyce
said.
The couple will be giving a presentation about their writing at the Kannapolis
branch of the Cabarrus Library this week.
“They write together, research together, and I think they make an interesting
pair,” said Terry Prather, library manager of the Kannapolis branch.
They have given presentations before, including one on how to write a novel, and
Prather often helps them do research for their novels.
Prather said she has read all of the Lavenes’ books, but her favorite series is
the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series, because she is an avid gardener herself.
“They bring out a lot of North Carolina, and I think that’s important,” Prather
said. “They’re good authors. I enjoy how they work off each other’s energy -
when you see them talk, they finish each other’s sentences. It comes together in
their work.”