BANKS, Carolyn 1941-

(Carolyn Banks Rafferty)

PERSONAL: Born February 9, 1941, in Pittsburgh, PA; daughter of Phillip Jacob and Victoria Ann (Zbel) Dogonka; married second husband, Robert R. Rafferty (a writer), August 26, 1984; children: (previous marriage) Donald Banks. Education: University of Maryland, B.A. (with high honors), 1968, M.A., 1969.

ADDRESSES: Home—223 Riverwood, Bastrop, TX 78602-7616.

CAREER: Writer. Austin Community College, Austin, TX, instructor in creative writing, beginning 1983; former instructor in journalism and creative writing at University of Maryland, Bowie State College, and Piedmont Virginia Community College; presenter of writing workshops for local groups, including Austin Writers League and San Antonio Writers Guild. Also worked at an adult day-care center.

MEMBER: PEN, Authors League of America, Mystery Writers of America, Authors Guild, NBCC, Central Texas Dressage Society.

AWARDS, HONORS: Maryland fellowship, 1969.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Mr. Right, Viking (New York, NY), 1979, reprinted, Second Chance Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 1999.

The Darkroom, Viking (New York, NY), 1980.

The Girls on the Row, Crown (New York, NY), 1984.

Patchwork, Crown (New York, NY), 1986.

Death by Dressage, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1993.

Groomed for Death, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1994.

The Turtle's Voice: A Mostly Comic Novel about Marriage and Redemption, Keel Publications (Austin, TX), 1995.

Murder Well Bred, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1995.

A Horse to Die For, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1996.

Death on the Diagonal, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1996.

OTHER

(Editor, with Morris Freedman) American Mix, J.B. Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1972.

The Adventures of Runcible Spoon, illustrated by Nancy Boyce, Ethos Enterprises (Etlan, VA), 1979.

(With Amy Kwalwasser) The Horse Lover's Guide to Texas, Texas Monthly Press (Austin, TX), 1988.

(Editor, with Jane Rizzo) A Loving Voice: A Caregiver's Book of Read-aloud Stories for the Elderly, Charles Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1992.

Tart Tales: Elegant Erotic Stories, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor, with Jane Rizzo) A Loving Voice II: A Caregiver's Book of More Read-aloud Stories for the Elderly, Charles Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1994.

Former author of a true-crime column for CrimeBeat. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Practical Horseman, Washington Post Book World, New York Times, Houston Post, Redbook, New Black Mask Quarterly, and Sports Illustrated.

WORK IN PROGRESS: His, an erotic thriller.

SIDELIGHTS: "I like the idea of writing within a well-defined genre—suspense in my case—but somehow going beyond the requirements of the genre," Carolyn Banks once told CA. In her novels, the author combines elements of the traditional mystery story with an understanding of human psychology, particularly the darker side of human relationships.

Mr. Right, Banks's first novel, is a suspenseful tale about a woman, Lida, and her love affair with Duvivier, an author of sadomasochistic novels who writes under several pseudonyms. As her relationship with the novelist progresses, Lida discovers that Duvivier is not her lover's real name, and, upon investigation, learns his true name and that he was once a college professor. Duvivier has kept his real name hidden, fearing it will link him to the murder of a college student who was seen with him on the night of her death. Because he cannot recall the events of the evening, Duvivier has led himself to believe he is the killer, though in reality he is not. Afraid that Lida will reveal his identity, Duvivier plots her death. Mr. Right was warmly received by critics. Eve Zibart of the Washington Post Book World called it "devious and delicious" and recommended that "a swift second reading is worthwhile just to admire Banks's wiliness."

The Darkroom was reportedly inspired by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) disclosure that it tested mind-altering drugs on people without informing them of the personality changes they would suffer, and without explaining the devastating alterations (that sometimes led to suicide) to the families of the victims. The Darkroom deals with a seemingly mild-mannered, intelligent man who violently murders his mother, wife, and three children after disfiguring photographs of them. Unaware that he is a victim of CIA drug experimentation, the man, William Thomas Holland, flees into the wilderness and after a time is presumed dead. But a CIA agent continues stalking Holland. When the agent and murderer meet, Holland is found living in a secluded cabin, under a new name, with a divorcee and her two sons. His pastime? Distorting photographs of his new companions.

Commenting on Banks's second book, Stanley Ellin in the Washington Post Book World wrote: "All this [CIA drug experimentation] is now a matter of public record, and Carolyn Banks has drawn from that record to set forth a story which is the more effective because it is not accusatory. Those who may feel that paranoia, whatever colors drape it, is no substitute for conscience will find in Carolyn Banks' novel the most dramatically telling argument for their increasingly unpopular position."

Banks suggested that her fourth novel best succeeds in combining a traditional mystery story with psychological insight. "Patchwork is a book about a tortured relationship between mother and son rather than just a suspense novel," she once told CA. In this chilling tale, Rachel—a high-strung divorcee who supports herself by selling patchwork—lives in fear of Drew, her emotionally disturbed teenager. Theirs has not been an affectionate relationship, and, in frustration, Rachel has committed Drew to a halfway house in southern Texas and set out for Austin to forge a new life of her own. Just as her prospects are improving, Rachel learns that Drew has escaped and that her former husband has been found brutally murdered, his body wrapped in a patchwork quilt. Fearing for her life, Rachel aimlessly crisscrosses the city, "stumbling about in mixed parental agony and outright victim terror," according to John Katzenbach in the Washington Post Book World.

The narrative unfolds in alternate chapters as Drew and Rachel each reveal the hurts and disappointments that have made them enemies: Rachel has always imparted the worst motives to her son's behavior; Drew has never known a mother's unquestioning love. Katzenbach believed that "Banks portrays this emotional highwire act admirably. The memories add immeasurably to the impact of the novel. The characters are fully realized." He also commended Banks's ability to use such descriptions to "further her plot. Banks is delivering suspense in this book, not a treatise on mother-son relations. What she manages, within the structure of the thriller, to impart about the difficulties in raising problem children is relatively sophisticated." Writing in the San Antonio Express-News, Judyth Rigler similarly observed: "Banks knows a great deal about the parent-child relationship and its convolutions…. The combination makes for a tight thriller."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Cosmopolitan, October, 1983, Carol E. Rinzler, review of The Girls on the Row, p. 56.

Express-News (San Antonio, TX), September 7, 1986, Judyth Rigler, review of Patchwork.

Library Journal, June 1, 1980, Louis G. Sheedy, review of The Darkroom, p. 1325.

Los Angeles Times, November 6, 1983, Garry Abrams, review of The Girls on the Row, p. 9; September 14, 1986.

New York Times Book Review, March 25, 1979; July 20, 1980, Newgate Callendar, review of The Darkroom, p. 16.

Practical Horseman, July, 2000, Carolyn Banks, "The Writer as Rider," p. 120.

Publishers Weekly, March 21, 1980, review of The Darkroom, p. 56; July 8, 1983, review of The Girls on the Row, p. 57; June 29, 1984, review of The Girls on the Row, p. 103; December 13, 1991, review of A Loving Voice: A Caregiver's Book of Read-aloud Stories for the Elderly, p. 52; January 4, 1993, review of Tart Tales: Elegant Erotic Stories, p. 58; March 29, 1999, review of Mr. Right, p. 95.

Washington Post, September 26, 1983, Alan Ryan, review of The Girls on the Row, p. B9.

Washington Post Book World, February 10, 1979, Eve Zibart, review of Mr. Right; May 12, 1980, Stanley Ellin, review of The Darkroom; May 17, 1986, John Katzenbach, review of Patchwork; April 5, 1987.