by Linda Tucker

With outstretched hand, Susan Isaacs greeted me in the spacious foyer of her two-story brick house on Long Island's North Shore. "Hi, I'm Susan!" she said with a warm smile. Her eight novels are about homicide and skullduggery, deception and betrayal. Was this what a best-selling mystery writer was supposed to look like and sound like?

She led me past her elegant living room filled with dark furniture and Oriental rugs to the garden room, overlooking a sprawling lawn and swimming pool. Her black cat, Poe (named for Edgar Allen Poe), ambled beside us. With coffee and cookies in hand, we sat comfortably across from each other like two good friends having a chat.

Just another housewife? Like some of the heroines of her novels, not quite. Isaacs' books have been translated into 30 languages, including Hebrew, and her first novel, Compromising Positions, published in 1978, was made into a movie for which she wrote the screenplay. Currently, she's working on a sequel to this tale about a witty, perceptive housewife-sleuth who solves the murder of a Long Island periodontist.

I asked Isaacs how she had become a writer. She said that it wasn't something she had planned. When she left Queens College of the City University of New York in 1965, she took a job as an assistant editor at Seventeen magazine, she told me. She started writing an advice-to-the-lovelorn column and quickly moved up the ladder to senior editor.

In 1968, she married Elkan Abramowitz, a trial lawyer specializing in white-collar criminal defense work. She left Seventeen in 1970 when her son, Andrew, was born.

For the next three years, until the birth of her daughter, Elizabeth, Isaacs stayed home writing freelance articles and political speeches. She says that she's still a political junkie. (This year, she covered both the Republican and Democratic conventions and has been writing occasional political columns for the New York newspaper Newsday.)

In the mid-'70s, she began to write novels.

Compromising Positions was an instant bestseller and was followed by Close Relations (1980), Almost Paradise (1984), Shining Through (1988), Magic Hour (1991), After All These Years (1993), Lily White (1996) and Red, White and Blue (1998).

In addition to being a dedicated writer, Isaacs is an activist who works hard for the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Association, the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the National Endowment of the Arts Literature Program.

Not coincidentally, she is a member of Women's American ORT.

Where do you do your writing?
SI: I took an empty bedroom for my office. It's cheerfully decorated, with raspberry wallpaper, slightly berserk wall sconces, an old farm table I use as a desk and paintings by a couple of my artist friends. Nevertheless, once I'm writing, I lose all sense of where I am and enter my fictional universe.

Why did you choose to write mystery novels?
SI: When I started writing, I sensed I wasn't going to be another Virginia Woolf or Jackie Collins, but since I was hooked on reading mysteries, I thought I could be a Semitic Agatha Christie. Mysteries have a built-in narrative drive and that's a good form for first novelists.

Are your characters based on people you know?
SI: Actually, my characters just come to me. I don't look outward for inspiration. I couldn't write a book about a religious Catholic because I don't know what it's like to be one. I write about what I know. When I was working on Compromising Positions, it seemed natural for my main character, Judith Singer, to be a housewife-detective.

You're working on a sequel to Compromising Positions. How did that come about?
SI: I'm a member of the Adams Roundtable, a group of writers who meet monthly and put together an anthology of mystery stories each year. I was asked if I wanted to write a story for the new edition and I immediately thought of using Judith Singer as the central character. My new novel grew out of that short story. I just thought it would be fun to return to Judith and see what she's been up to.

Has your husband's profession as a criminal defense lawyer influenced your plots? Are your children sources for ideas, as well?
SI: Actually none of my plots came from his cases. But my husband's passion for the law is very attractive to me. He loves his cases and his colleagues and that kind of energy is what I wanted to create in my books. I have used his advice and also some of his contacts in getting information. As for my children, they are sources of good editorial advice. Andrew is a lawyer, and his wife, Leslie, is an editor at HarperCollins Audio. My daughter, Elizabeth works in the public information section of Actors Equity and her husband teaches physics at the Bronx High School of Science.

Deception and betrayal are central themes that run through almost all of your books. Why do you think people find it so hard to open up and be honest with each other?
SI: Some people come to hate what they are. They attempt to reinvent themselves. Jews become Christians, children of blue-collar families become "aristocrats," middle-aged men become Lotharios. But, in becoming someone else, these self-haters have to negate or destroy the people in their old lives who remind them of what they are. That's a terrible price to pay.

Why do family values play such a large part in almost all of your books?
SI: I love family. As an only child, I could have been awfully lonely. But my mother was one of six children and so I had an entire clan of largely uncritical cousins. What a blessing! I'm enormously attached to all of them. The worst hurt I could imagine would be to be betrayed by a family member, and I use treachery, in different forms, to get the action going in Shining Through, After All These Years and Lily White.

What sparked your desire to write about the particular spirit of adventure in Red, White and Blue?
SI: Some Jews who came to America settled in New York. But New York is a separate state of mind from the rest of the country and demands a certain set of challenges. Other Jews who came to America had a strong sense of adventure, a need to strike out on their own and see what's out there. They had a willingness to face physical challenges. They were the ones who went out west. Some became assimilated. They disappeared. I was interested in what happened to those lost Jews.

You grew up in a nonobservant household in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. What was it like?
SI: It would be dishonest to say that I spent my childhood searching for meaning. I was a normal, Dodger-loving, ice-cream eating, book-reading Brooklyn kid. But growing up in a nonobservant home made me feel cut off from the comfort of a group, made me, an only child, feel even more alone. I had religious longings that could not be satisfied except by talking directly to God. In my home, there was no comforting ritual. I can't recall ever hearing the Sh'ma. I felt like an outsider among my fellow Jews. What I loved about going to my Aunt Sara and Uncle George's house for Passover was both their warmth and the joy of the holiday. I belonged. I was part of a circle that went beyond my immediate family. I remember when my cousin Janice or Judy opened the door for Elijah, I was positive that I could see the wine stirring. I thought Elijah had actually taken a sip!

Is Judaism a major part of your life today?
SI: Absolutely. My husband and I are active in the Jewish community and in our synagogue. I've kept kosher since I'm married. My Judaism defines who I am. Judaism is an entire way of life. It's a moral code, an intellectual approach, a way of seeing your place in the universe. I have embraced Judaism fully.

What attracted you to Women's American ORT?
SI: When I first moved to Long Island, my sister-in-law, Arlene Abramowitz, was already active in ORT so I joined her chapter. What impressed me about the organization at my first meeting was not only that the members were doing good for others, but that their sense of duty transcended national borders and social class. They were truly selfless. ORT's goals are similar to my beliefs. Taking responsibility for learning a trade to help care for your family and yourself is very important. I also think it's vital that women take responsibility for themselves. That gives them strength and confidence. I believe strongly in the notion of learning to do your part in today's society. And I especially believe that women ought to have a part in society. It's no accident that my first book of nonfiction is Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women Are Really Doing on Page and Screen.

Apart from writing and social causes, what other interests do you have?
SI: I am an ardent Mets fan and I love to cook and entertain, especially for our large extended family. Oh, yes, I also collect Joseff of Hollywood costume jewelry. Best of all, my grandson, Nathan Henry Abramowitz, was born on April 3rd of this year. Being a grandma is marvelous.

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