Their name might be fake, but this Duluth writing couple have real talent

You’ve heard of folks who are so close that they finish each other’s sentences? Meet the Duluth writers who even speak collaboratively.

“We realized pretty quickly my strengths are in code and plot — ” began Andy Bennett, on a phone call last month.

“— and I’m definitely more character-driven. I was always looking for the most realistic dialog, trying to keep the voices true,“ added Katy Helbacka, whose ability to pick up her husband’s cues (and vice versa) was fueled by 10 years of doing improv together (Helbacka is the former artistic director of Renegade Theater, where they often directed each other).

Together, the couple writes under pen name Jay Martel, which is a combination of their middle names. Starved for creative outlets in the pandemic, they dreamed up “Codebreaker,” a spy novel that is being pitched to young adults because its heroine is a teenager named Mia. But, with interactive puzzles left behind by her dad to help Mia solve her parents’ murders, it seems likely to appeal to anyone who enjoyed the “National Treasure” movies.

“You know how everyone has that movie where, if they’re flipping through the channels and it’s on, they stop and watch it? ‘National Treasure’ is the movie for Andy,” said Helbacka.

“A seminal reading experience for me was ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ But, yeah, ‘National Treasure,’ I love,” said Bennett. “I co-founded an escape room [Solve Entertainment] in Duluth here for a while. I’ve always been into those puzzle, adventuring things.”

Years ago, Bennett came up with the idea of a book filled with codes and ciphers but it languished while the couple pursued other projects, including a baby, Theo, who’s now seven. (The three are jointly reading the “Harry Potter” books, which helped jettison the idea that YA titles are just for young adults.)

“Katy came in with the awesome idea of making ‘Codebreaker’ interactive and we decided, ‘Let’s just do this together,’ and we ended up being so happy about it that we sent it along to my agent,” said Bennett.

Helbacka, who describes herself as “loud and constantly talking,” and Bennett, who’s more introspective, had to figure out a way to collaborate. Once they did, it was smooth ciphering.

“We storyboarded the whole thing together, with more coffee than any human should drink. Once we had the plot and characters set, we’d take turns working on the chapters. And we wouldn’t move on to the next chapter until we’d both signed off,” said Helbacka.

“Kate tends to write in the morning over coffee and I tend to write in the dead of night with a glass of whiskey. Then, we would give each other notes,” said Bennett.

“Mostly very friendly notes,” added Helbacka.

“She would write me helpful notes like, ‘You’re writing Logan as if he’s a grandpa,’” said Bennett, referring to a teenager who assists Mia in her investigation and provides a possible love interest.

“I was definitely looking for more comedy for Logan’s character,” said Helbacka, who came up with zingers for the wisecracking youth, such as his response when Mia tells him to calm down after a violent encounter: “There is every reason to panic! Did you forget the part where I shot a CIA agent?”

Like “National Treasure,” actual events are incorporated in “Codebreaker,” in which one code alludes to the historical fact that Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth left behind a diary, from which some missing pages have never been found. That fun fact grew out of researching the musical “Assassins,” which Helbacka directed for Renegade Theater and in which Bennett played — wait for it — Booth.

That 2016 production of “Assassins” informed “Codebreakers,” which gets extra zing from the codes themselves, a device the couple weren’t sure their publisher would go for but has become a selling point. Periodically, the novel pauses and a symbol alerts readers they’ve been given enough information to break the latest code Mia is trying to solve.

“If people don’t want to, they definitely don’t have to,” said Helbacka. “We sent them to friends to make sure everyone could break the codes if they put their minds to it. We wanted to make sure it wasn’t too hard for people who wanted to do them.”

So far, the feedback has been good — good enough that Andy said that writing is “all we want to do, all day long” and that they’re almost done with an outline of a sequel. They’re also working on interactive scavenger hunts that will be part of September promotional events in the Twin Cities.

All of that is enough to make the couple not long for theater. Almost.

“We’ve always loved working together. I will say I miss doing theater, standing in the back of the house and seeing people reacting to it, so that’s missing for me in writing,” said Helbacka of creating “Codebreaker.” “I wish I could sit in a room and watch people read it.”

Codebreaker

By: Jay Martel.

Publisher: Wednesday Books, 372 pages.

Events: 7 p.m. July 22, Barnes and Noble, 1600 Miller Trunk Hwy., Duluth. Free. 6 p.m. July 31, Bookstore at Fitger’s, 600 E. Superior St., Duluth. Free.