Fiction
At a time when so many sources of information and entertainment compete for our attention, I'm especially grateful to have grown up surrounded by books and a family who loved sharing and discussing stories. My body of creative work includes short stories, essays, and now, the manuscript for my first novel.​
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Short Stories
Swim at Your Own Risk
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
January/February 2025
A family vacation at the shore turns dark when a young boy learns how easily violence can touch the people he loves. This story appeared in the magazine’s 1,000th issue!
​Now you can listen to “Swim At Your Own Risk” on this episode of The Mystery Hour with Alfred Hitchcock’s and Ellery Queen’s Magazines (an Apple podcast) read by bestselling author Rabia Chaudry.
An Eye for Detail
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
September/October 2021
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A story that draws on my very brief employment in a fast food outlet in Chicago. Readers may be interested—or appalled—to know that the character who opens a pickle container with his foot is based on a real person.
How Does He Die This Time?
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2018
Reprinted in Black Cat Weekly #83 (2023)
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The husband of a newly successful mystery writer undergoes a series of misfortunes. Is it just bad luck? Or something more sinister?
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Follow this link to listen to How Does He Die This Time?
Winner of the Robert L. Fish Award from the Mystery Writers of America
How Does He Die This Time?
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Reprinted in Black Cat Weekly #83 (2023)
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“Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
Gustave Flaubert
Letter to Gertrude Tennant, 25 December 1876
Mysteries in their many and various forms turn out to be the genre in which I’ve found my first publishing home and a community of fellow writers. So much of life remains mysterious to me; I don’t expect to run out of subject matter any time soon.
Please see below to explore some of my fiction, as well as my book reviews and interviews with other authors.
Coming Soon
Blue As Can Be
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A novel of domestic suspense in the vein of Jean Hanff Korelitz’ The Plot, Zoe Heller’s Notes on a Scandal, Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, and Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage.
Obsessive love has no place in KL’s carefully curated life as a suburban wife and mother, but a chance encounter with a neighbor and the discovery of an incriminating photo brings her past crashing into the present with devastating consequences that ultimately turn the stalker into the prey.
Diana and Eve
(working title)
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A series of connected stories that follows a lifelong friendship between two women whose paths take them in very different directions.
Book Reviews and Blogposts
The Unlikely Ladies of Nineteenth Century Crime Fiction
My article about the darker works of Louisa May Alcott and Eliza Lynn Linton.
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Reading My Father by Alexandra Styron
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The author’s memoir about growing up with her famous father, author William Styron.
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How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick by Letty Cottin Pogrebin
A how-to guide for supporting those going through a serious illness.
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The Outdoor Museum: Not Your Usual Images of New York by Margery Gray and Sheldon Harnick
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A book of photographs and poetry.
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A novel by the actor best known for his role in L.A. Law, with a storyline inspired by his experience as spouse to a beloved wife diagnosed with breast cancer. A Q&A with the author follows.
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Blaustein’s Kiss by Judith Felsenfeld
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A collection of short stories that sensitively portrays the dilemmas of middle-aged characters dealing with divorce, death, and complicated family dynamics.
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The New Art of Ideas: Unlock Your Creative Potential by Robin Landa
Landa, a much published professor of design at Kean University, offers her formula for idea generation in a book that speaks to professionals in any field.
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Neighbors Who Write – 2022 Edition
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My round-up of four Upper West Side authors worth reading!
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