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 dreaming how what was going on then in my hometown would mirror the novel I would write many years later.

You see, I learned something recently that actually gave me chills.

Truth: Fear gripped Cincinnati women when the headlines reported the grisly attacks taking place in their city. 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.”

One of the victims of the Cincinnati Strangler lived in Price Hill, which borders Westwood, and all of his attacks occurred on or near the west side of Cincinnati.

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.

Fiction: In my mystery novel, "Mixed Messages," the Westwood Strangler is on the loose on the west side of Cincinnati and the women of Westwood are terrified. He attacks women in their homes and he uses an article of their own clothing or whatever is at hand to strangle them.

There are other similarities between "Mixed Messages" and what really happened but I can't reveal them without giving away the plot.

Was it merely a coincidence that what I wrote all those years later 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? I guess we’ll never know.