Slate, Caroline 1934-

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SLATE, Caroline 1934-

(Carol Brennan)

PERSONAL: Born December 23, 1934, in New York, NY; daughter of William (a dentist) and Irene (maiden name, Israel; present surnmae, Sayovitz) Gutzman; married Edward Beatty (a physician), December 19, 1954 (divorced, 1963); married Charles Leedham, 1968 (divorced, 1974); married Eamon Brennan (a public relations consultant), October 31, 1975; children: Richard Beatty and Joanna Maddock. Education: New York University, B.S., 1956; doctoral study at Hunter College of the City University of New York, 1965-69. Politics: "Democrat (usually)." Religion: "Jewish (culturally)." Hobbies and other interests: Theater, reading, walking.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. E-mail—caroline@carolineslate.com.

CAREER: Author and Off-Broadway actress. Brennan & Brennan, New York, NY, partner, 1980, vice-president, 1985. Has worked in various positions, including as a teacher for speech-disabled children in the New York City Schools, a traveling television spokeswoman, a public relations manager for banks and corporate interests, a publicist for New York City's Planned Parenthood, a consultant to the Child Welfare League of America, the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges, and the Council of Adoptable Children.

WRITINGS:

(Under pseudonym Carol Brennan) Headhunt, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 1991.

(Under pseudonym Carol Brennan) Full Commission, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 1993.

(Under pseudonym Carol Brennan) In the Dark, Putnam (New York, NY), 1994.

(Under pseudonym Carol Brennan) Chill of Summer, Putnam (New York, NY), 1995.

The House on Sprucewood Lane, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

A Fractured Truth, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Caroline Slate once told CA that she chose to first write mystery novels "not only as a release for hostility and because I like to read them, but because I figured the implicit need for structure would be an enormous help for a beginning writer, and it was." When her first novel, Headhunt, was published the author was "hooked." She told CA: "As though from nowhere, I wanted to write, and the 'perks' of wonderful places I could live while doing it rapidly took a back seat." The sequel to Headhunt, Full Commission follows the same protagnist (as the previous novel): a public relations executive in her early forties who carries battle scars from both the marriage and career wars, whose hostages to fortune include two children (each with a college tuition) and two cats, and who suffers the occasional dark night of the soul over growing old, possibly alone. All in all, the story is somewhat autobiographical.

Her novel The House on Sprucewood Lane is based on the real-life murder of six-year-old Jon Benet Ramsey of Boulder, Colorado. The death of the little girl captured headlines for months as police investigated possible suspects, including her parents. In Slate's novel, a fictionalized account based on the Ramsey case, the McQuade family is the focus of the investigation. The seemingly average American family is thrown into the limelight following the murder of Calista McQuade, their gifted ten-year-old gymnast daughter. As the investigation delves into the McQuade's life, the murky relationship between the various family members emerges, forming the backdrop to the mystery. Calista's father, Tom, a journalist, her mother, Melanie, the driving force behind her career, and Jared, her older brother, were all present in the house on the night of the murder and thus all of them are suspects.

The story unfolds through the eyes of Alexis Cavanaugh, Melanie's estranged sister, who has been summoned via e-mail by Jared, Calista's twelve-yearold brother. Alexis and Melanie, although sisters, have been estranged for some time now because of Alexis's previous affair with Tom. As Alexis tries to solve the mystery of Calista's murder, she finds herself drawn to Jared, who reminds her of her own childhood. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented that Slate handles the subject of her novel "deftly, rounding her characters so that the reader can hear their ragged breathing."