Compromising Positions (39 page)

After several years writing advice columns, then political speeches, Isaacs tried her hand at a mystery novel, and
Compromising Positions
was published in 1978. The story of housewife-turned-detective was a runaway success. It has been translated into thirty languages and adapted into a film starring Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia, and Isaacs wrote the screenplay herself.

Isaacs’s experience in city politics informed her second novel,
Close Relations
. Like
Compromising Positions
, it became a critical and commercial success, and established her as an author of literary fiction. Her fourth book, the World War II drama
Shining Through
, was later made into a film starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, and Liam Neeson. Isaacs also found success as a screenwriter, penning 1987’s
Hello Again
, a comedy starring Shelley Long and Gabriel Byrne.

A former president of the Mystery Writers of America, she is a winner of the John Steinbeck Award, the Marymount Manhattan Writing Center Award, and the Writers for Writers Award. Isaacs is currently chairman of the board of the literary organization Poets & Writers. She has continued her involvement with politics, covering the 2000 election for the Long Island daily newspaper
Newsday
, an experience she has called “one of the greatest thrills of my life.”

Since 1968 she has been married to Elkan Abramowitz, a criminal defense lawyer with whom she has two children. Now a grandmother, she lives on Long Island.

Susan, the budding author, at about ten months of age. “Note the toothless smile,” Isaacs says. “Perhaps I’d not yet developed my ironic sensibility?”

Susan’s uncle, Herbert Isaacs Nova, a bomber pilot, named his B-26 for his niece in celebration of her birth, which was December 7, the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. This is one of the reasons she feels such a connection to World War II—and returns to it a few times in her novels.

“Cowgirl—such a practical ambition for a girl from Brooklyn!” says Isaacs.

Susan and Elkan Abramowitz on their wedding day. Susan says, “Marrying Elkan was the smartest decision of my life.”

Susan and Elkan’s son, Andy (now a lawyer), with the dog Susan calls “the noblest collie since Lassie.”

Susan with her daughter, Elizabeth (now a philosopher), in the early days.

Family vacation circa 1987. According to Susan, she is “98 percent sure we’re at Versailles.”

Susan (right) with Ethel Merman and Liz Smith at the launch of her second novel,
Close Relations
(1980).

The
Compromising Positions
film wrap party. From left to right: Susan Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Frank Perry, Deborah Rush, Josh Mostel, and Anne De Salvo.

Susan and Elkan at the Tetons during one of their great vacations in Wyoming.

Susan’s mom and dad. She calls them “charming, bright, and warmhearted.”