Margaret Millar, Author Biographies

Margaret Millar was born Margaret Ellis Sturm on February 5, 1915, in Kitchner, Ontario. She was educated there and in Toronto where she studied the classics.

Margaret met Kenneth Millar, another aspiring writer, while in high school. They reconnected In college and married in 1938. Their only daughter, Linda, died in 1970.

Margaret said she began publishing under her married name, Margaret Millar, because of the title of her first book (Worm, Sturm). While she was to become a prominent suspense writer, her books were never big sellers. She was a very private person and abhorred interviews.

After Margaret’s husband published a couple of books under his own name, he changed to the pseudonym, John Ross Macdonald then to

Ross Macdonald.

Margaret’s husband joined the U.S Navy during WWII and was stationed in the Pacific off the coast of southern California. When Margaret came to visit him, she fell in love with the area and they made the beautiful seaside town of Santa Barbara their home.

Santa Barbara shows up consistently in Margaret’s books, but is often named San Felicia or San Felice. Many years later another prominent mystery writer, Sue Grafton, did the same thing with her character, female private detective Kinsey Millhone, naming the town Santa Theresa.

Between 1945 and 1946, Margaret worked at Warner Brothers as a screenwriter. It was during this time that Warner Brothers bought the option on her book, ‘The Iron Gate,’ but it never was produced. During the 1960s, two of Margaret’s novels were adapted for the television series, ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents.’

It’s been said of Margaret’s work, “Her novels are prized for their psychological penetration of the hearts and minds of murderers.” Margaret also wrote a non fiction book about the birds and animals she observed. Along with her husband, she founded a chapter of the Audubon Society.

Margaret was presented the prestigious Edgar Award by the Mystery writers of America in1955 for Best Novel, for ‘A Beast in View.’ In 1965, she was named Woman of the Year by ‘Los Angeles Times.’ She was also awarded the Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1982 and the Derrick Murdoch Award in 1986.

Margaret died of a heart attack on March 26, 1994, at her home in Santa Barbara. One of her favorite quotes was, “Life is something that happens to you while you are making other plans.” Unfortunately, very few of her books are still in print.

Books by Margaret Millar:

Novels:

The Invisible Worm (1941)

The Devil Loves Me (1942)

The Weak-Eyed Bat (1942)

Wall of Eyes (1943)

(1944)

Taste of Fears (1945)

The Iron Gate (1945)

Experiment in Springtime (1947)

It’s All in the Family (1948)

The Cannibal Heart (1949)

Do Evil in Return (1950)

Rose’s Last Summer (1952)

Vanish in an Instant (1952)

Wives and Lovers (1954)

Beast in View (1955)

The Soft Talkers (1957)

The Listening Walls (1959)

A Stranger in My Grave (1969)

(1962)

The Friend (1964)

Beyond This Point Are Monsters (1970)

The Friend (1974)

Ask For Me Tomorrow (1976)

(1979)

Mermaid (1981)

Banshee (1983)

Spider Webs (1986)

Omnibus:

An Air That Kills / Do Evil in Return (Stark House Mystery Classics) (2006)

Non Fiction:

The Birds and the Beasts Were There (1968)

Short Stories:

The Couple Next Door: Collected Short Mysteries (Lost Classics) (1954)

Radiant Flower of the Divine Heavens (1998)

The Couple Next Door: Collected Short Mysteries (2004)

Faye Kellerman, Author Biographies

Dr. Faye Kellerman was born Faye Mauder, in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 31, 1952, the oldest of six children. Most of her childhood was spent in Sherman Oaks, California. Faye’s mother, Anne Steinberg, haled from a very prominent family in St. Louis, MO. Faye’s father, Oscar Mauder, was a U.S. Army veteran and served in World War II.

Faye says that as a young girl she mostly wrote plays even though she was slightly dyslexic. She attended UCLA and graduated with a B.A. in Theoretical Mathematics in 1974 and in 1978 received a Doctorate in Dental Surgery.

Faye married Jonathan Kellerman, a psychologist and suspense writer. They have four children, Jesse, Rachel, Ilana and Aliza. They make their homes in Los Angeles, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Faye has been a published novelist of mostly suspense and mystery since 1986. She has co-authored two books with her husband, Jonathan, and most recently a young adult novel with youngest daughter, Aliza. Her oldest son is also a published novelist.

The summer of 2009 was very busy. She, and Aliza, went on a book tour and signing together for their novel, “Prism.” Faye also had two other novels hit the book stores, “Mercedes Coffin,” in July and “Blindmans Bluff,” in August.

Faye says her favorite writers are, of course, her husband and son. She says she likes the old hard-boiled mystery writers, such as Ross MacDonald and Raymond Chandler. She also enjoys novels by Sue Grafton and Elmore Leonard, but her favorite is James Cain. Faye also loves to read biographies, non fiction and historical fiction.

Faye treats her writing as a job first. She says that for her writing is not a creative endeavor, but the act of writing brings out the creativity. She still has to juggle home and hearth just like any working woman.

Faye and her family are practicing Orthodox Jews. She brings to life all the challenges of an Orthodox Jew in modern society in her novels. She says that she enjoys writing about and sharing her culture.

Why does she write crime novels? Faye said in an interview, “There is nothing quite as compelling as murder. It addresses the darkest recesses of human nature much in the same way religion does. One deals with the corporeal, the other deals with the spiritual.”

Faye and Jonathan are the only couple thus far to have novels on the New York Times Best Seller list at the same time. Faye said it was through Jonathan’s patient encouragement, early on, that she became writer.

Series:

Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus:

The Ritual Bath (Peter Decker / Rina Lazarus) (1986)

Sacred and Profane (1987)

Milk and Honey (1990)

Day of Atonement (Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Mysteries) (1991)

False Profit (1992)

Grievous Sin (1993)

Sanctuary (1994)

Justice (1995)

Prayers for the Dead (1996)

(1997)

Jupiter's Bones: A Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novel (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus Novels) (1998)

Stalker (2000)

The Forgotten (2000)

Stone Kiss (2002)

Street Dreams (2003)

(2007)

The Mercedes Coffin CD (2008)

Blindman's Bluff: A Decker and Lazarus Novel (2009)

Hangman (2010)

Stand Alone Novels:

The Quality of Mercy (1989)

Moon Music (Paperback) (1998)

Naked Came the Phoenix (2001) (with Nevada Barr, Mary Jane Clark, Diana Gabaldon, JA Jance, Anne Perry, Nanct Pickard, JD Robb, Lisa Scotoline, Marcia Talley)

Straight into Darkness (2005)

(2009) (with Aliza Kellerman)

Omnibus:

Ritual Bath/Sacred Profane (2007)

Double Homicide (2004) (with Jonathan Kellerman)

Capital Crimes (2006) (with Jonathan Kellerman)

Short Story Collections:

The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights (2006)

Anthologies Edited:

Women of Mystery (1992) (with Mary Higgins Clark and Cynthia Manson)