[2] His first two novels in particular – Search Sweet Country (1986) and Woman of the Aeroplanes (1988) – were praised for their linguistic originality, both books including glossaries that feature the author's neologisms as well as Ghanaian words.

He subsequently worked for five years as an administrative secretary of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, and in 1984 became head of Saint Anthony's School in Accra,[6] which had been established by his mother.

"[13] Laing's second novel, Woman of the Aeroplanes, was published in 1988, and has drawn comparison with the work of Ayi Kwei Armah.

[5] Laing published two further novels: Major Gentl and Achimota Wars (1992), which also won a Valco Award in 1993,[5] and Big Bishop Roko and the Altar Gangsters (2006).

[7] Tributes in The Johannesburg Review of Books noted that Laing was "painfully underappreciated in his lifetime" and called him "one of the unsung heroes of African fiction".