Kelman, Judith 1945–

(Judith Ann Kelman)

PERSONAL: Born October 21, 1945, in New York, NY; daughter of George Joseph and Flora Edelstein; married Edward Michael Kelman, June 28, 1970; children: Matthew Steven, Joshua Kenneth. Education: Cornell University, B.S., 1967; New York University, M.A., 1968; Southern Connecticut State College, M.S., 1977. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. E-mail—jkelman@jkelman.com.

CAREER: Novelist. Valley Stream Public Schools, Valley Stream, NY, teacher of mentally handicapped students, 1968–71; Camp A.N.C.H.O.R., Hempstead, NY, recreation supervisor of extracurricular activities for handicapped children, 1968–71; worked as a speech pathologist and educational consultant in public schools in Greenwich, CT; freelance writer, 1981–. Stamford Aid for Retarded, Stamford, CT, member of board of directors, 1973–74; Touch, Inc., Stamford, CT, founder, 1975, president, 1975–76.

MEMBER: American Society of Journalists and Authors, Mystery Writers of America, Authors Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS: Mary Higgins Clark Award for best suspense novel, 2002, for Summer of Storms.

WRITINGS:

SUSPENSE NOVELS

Prime Evil, Berkeley (New York, NY), 1986.

Where Shadows Fall, Berkeley (New York, NY), 1988.

While Angels Sleep, Berkeley (New York, NY), 1990.

Hush Little Darlings, Berkeley (New York, NY), 1991.

Someone's Watching, Bantam (New York, NY), 1992.

The House on the Hill, Bantam (New York, NY), 1993.

If I Should Die, Bantam (New York, NY), 1994.

One Last Kiss, Bantam (New York, NY), 1995.

More than You Know, Bantam (New York, NY), 1996.

Fly away Home, Bantam (New York, NY), 1997.

After the Fall, Putnam (New York, NY), 1999.

Summer of Storms, Putnam (New York, NY), 2001.

Every Step You Take, Putnam (New York, NY), 2003.

The Session, Berkley (New York, NY), 2006.

OTHER

(With Dr. Peter Scardino) Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book: The Complete Guide to Overcoming Prostate Cancer, Prostatitis, and BPH, Avery (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to anthologies, including A Body Is Found, Wynwood Press (New York, NY), 1990; Missing in Manhattan: The Adams Round Table, Berkeley (New York, NY), 1994; Murder for Revenge, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1998; Murder on the Run, Berkeley, 1998; and The First Lady Murders, Dutton (New York, NY).

Contributor to periodicals, including Bride's, Glamour, Ladies' Home Journal, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Redbook, Seventeen, and Working Mother.

ADAPTATIONS: Someone's Watching was adapted for television as a National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Movie of the Week.

SIDELIGHTS: Judith Kelman's writing career began when she was vacationing from her job as a speech therapist and educational consultant. She began working on a book for her own amusement and enjoyed it so much that she decided to take a year off to see if she could complete it. Before the year was up, she had completed her novel and sold it to a major publisher.

Many of Kelman's novels can be classified as contemporary gothic thrillers. The New England settings feature abandoned or dark, run-down houses, strange characters, and an "isolated, victimized heroine," according to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. A critic in Kirkus Reviews referred to Kelman as a "women-in-perilist" whose protagonists are often single or divorced women who get involved in mysteries of one kind or another. In Prime Evil, Kelman's first novel, Erica Phillips is a single, pregnant editor who goes to work for a bestselling horror writer at a secluded, run-down estate. In Where Shadows Fall, the heroine is a grieving mother whose son has died, supposedly by his own hand, on his college campus. In While Angels Sleep, English professor Emily Archer tries to deal with bizarre occurrences she suspects are being done by her rebellious eleven-year-old daughter. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that Kelman's portrait of the contemporary family as a battle zone "rings true." In Someone's Watching, a "shadow man" lurks, hoping to "harvest," while Cinnie Merritt holds her five-year-old son's hand as he lies limp in a hospital, the sixth victim of a series of accidents in a quiet Connecticut community.

In The House on the Hill, parole officer Quinn Gallagher, assigned to a blind parolee accused of sex crimes against young girls, has to track down eleven-year-old Abigail in rural Vermont—with the assistance of the riddle-speaking blind man. If I Should Die features a New York psychiatrist named Maggie Lyons, accused by the police when two patients she was treating for phobias end up dead, killed by the fears that had driven them to seek help. Single mom and artist Theo Harper's troubles in One Last Kiss stem from a series of murders which she remembers in vivid detail before they are reported in the news—although she has no memory at all of where she was when the murders were committed. In More than You Know talk show host Dana Sanders interviews a "reformed" child molester who, along with his therapist, insists that he is cured. But when he learns that Dana has an adolescent daughter, a game of cat-and-mouse begins.

Kelman's first hardcover novel, 1997's Fly away Home, features a pretty and single specialist in learning disabilities who discovers that her New Hampshire boarding school headmaster's son was cradle-snatched from another family six years earlier. Bethany's well-intentioned efforts to return the boy to his rightful home get her deeply involved in a world of madness and terror—some of the family members are homicidal, and all are mentally unbalanced. A Kirkus Reviews critic called Fly away Home "a giddy, turbulent mix of gothic farce, rustic New England scenery, and cautious concern over the disturbing passions children arouse in their parents."

After the Fall centers on the apparently perfect world of Jess and Charles Magill—well-to-do, successful professionals living in Connecticut. The Magills love their careers, their home, and their three children. Then their world is shattered by a neighbor's accusation that the Magill's teenaged son raped her. Whether he is guilty or not, the family's lives are changed forever. Book-Browser critic Harriet Klausner credited Kelman with providing "her usual thought-provoking, superb tale." After the Fall is "a smooth and suspenseful contemporary tale of suburban trauma," reported a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who also approved of Kelman's "stylish, energetic prose." A Kirkus Reviews contributor also recommended the book, calling it "tough-minded, exceptionally well-written suspense."

Summer of Storms is another "taut and assured suspense thriller" from Kelman, stated a Publishers Weekly writer. This novel concerns the reopening of a decades-old murder investigation and the reappearance of a savage killer. Thirty-three-year-old Anna, a successful photojournalist, is haunted by the memories of a night, three decades ago, when her five-year-old sister was killed in her bed. Then she receives an anonymous phone call warning her that the murderer may strike again. "Swift pacing and well-drawn supplementary characters" contribute to the excellence of this "smooth pageturner," according to the Publishers Weekly reviewer.

A widowed author finds herself the victim of identity theft in Every Step You Take. After Claire Barrow's husband, a police officer, commits suicide, her life begins to unravel: Claire's relationship with her teenage stepdaughter grows increasingly strained, her new editor shows her no respect, and her bank account is mysteriously drained. In addition, her life is threatened by B.B. LeBeau, a serial killer whose sentence is overturned when it is discovered that Claire's husband may have tampered with evidence that led to LeBeau's conviction. "Barrow's reactions to the theft of a life that, with her husband's death, had lost its value are intriguingly complex," noted Booklist reviewer Connie Fletcher.

In The Session, prison psychologist P.J. Lafferty loses her job after she allows a mock wedding at the Rikers Island facility during which the bride is murdered. Though she returns to private practice, Lafferty refuses to let the killing go unsolved, and she enlists the aid of a district attorney, a mystery novelist, and her former boss to help her sort through the tangled web of clues. "Kelman is a pro at fitting the pieces of the murder together," noted a critic in Kirkus Reviews, "and though the identity of the villain is never in doubt, the novel succeeds thanks largely to P.J.'s colloquial carnival roster."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Reginald, Robert, editor, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 1975–1991, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

PERIODICALS

Armchair Detective, summer, 1996, p. 376.

Booklist, May 15, 1999, Jenny McLarin, review of After the Fall, p. 1673; September 1, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of Every Step You Take, p. 70; April 15, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book: The Complete Guide to Overcoming Prostate Cancer, Prostatitis, and BPH, p. 1421.

Books, September-October, 1991, p. 22; July, 1992, p. 16; September, 1992, p. 15.

Bookwatch, August, 2005, review of Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 1996, p. 1486; June 1, 1999, review of After the Fall, p. 823; February 1, 2001, review of Summer of Storms, p. 131; January 1, 2006, review of The Session, p. 10.

Library Journal, November 1, 1996, p. 107; April 1, 2005, James Swanton, review of Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book, p. 118.

Publishers Weekly, July 25, 1986, p. 180; September 11, 1987, p. 83; October 28, 1988, p. 74; June 15, 1992, p. 97; August 16, 1993, review of If I Should Die, p. 99; September 12, 1994, p. 86; October 7, 1996, review of Fly away Home, p. 64; April 26, 1999, review of After the Fall, p. 50; January 22, 2001, review of Summer of Storms, p. 300; August 25, 2003, review of Every Step You Take, p. 40; March 28, 2005, review of Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book, p. 73; November 21, 2005, review of The Session, p. 28.

School Library Journal, January, 2000, Carol DeAngelo, review of After the Fall, p. 156.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 1992, p. 383.

OTHER

Aspiring Reader Web site, http://www.aspiringreader.org/ (October 1, 2006), Mike Saitas, "An Interview with Novelist Judith Kelman."

Best Reviews Web site, http://www.thebestreviews.com/ (December 20, 2005), Harriet Klausner, reviews of Every Step You Take and The Session.

BookBrowser, http://www.bookbrowser.com/ (September 12, 2001), Harriet Klausner, reviews of After the Fall and Every Step You Take.

Book Reporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (October 1, 2006), Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum, reviews of After the Fall and Summer of Storms.

Judith Kelman's Writer's Room, http://www.jkelman.com (October 1, 2006).