Leahy, Syrell Rogovin 1935-

(Lee Harris)

PERSONAL: Given and middle names are accented on second syllable; surname is pronounced Lay-he; born January 4, 1935, in Brooklyn, NY; daughter of Samuel (an optometrist) and Dora (a teacher; maiden name, Cedar) Rogovin; married Daniel J. Leahy (a professor of mathematics), August 25, 1963; children: Joshua, Melinda. Education: Cornell University, B.A., 1956; Phillipps Universitat, graduate study, 1956–57; Columbia University, M.A., 1959, additional study, 1959–61. Politics: "Frequently Democrat." Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Phyllis Westberg, Harold Ober Associates, Inc., 425 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10017. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Textbook writer in New York, NY, 1961–62; International Business Machines Corp., Yorktown Heights, NY, linguistic researcher, 1962–65; teacher of remedial courses for adults in New York, NY, 1966–69; American Telephone and Telegraph Co., New York, NY, writer of training materials, beginning 1970; teacher of English as a second language. Novelist and mystery writer.

MEMBER: Linguistic Society of America, Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime.

AWARDS, HONORS: Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee, Mystery Writers of America, 1993, for The Good Friday Murder.

WRITINGS:

Modern English Sentence Structure, Random House (New York, NY), 1964.

Baby Care, McGraw (New York, NY), 1966.

(With Harry Huffman) Programmed College English, McGraw (New York, NY), 1968.

NOVELS

A Book of Ruth, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1974.

Circle of Love, Putnam (New York, NY), 1980.

Family Ties, Putnam (New York, NY), 1982.

Family Truths, Putnam (New York, NY), 1984.

Love Affair, Putnam (New York, NY), 1986.

Only Yesterday, Putnam (New York, NY), 1989.

"CHRISTINE BENNETT" MYSTERIES; UNDER PSEUDONYM LEE HARRIS

The Good Friday Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1992.

The Yom Kippur Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1992.

The Christening Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1993.

The St. Patrick's Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1994.

The Christmas Night Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1994.

The Thanksgiving Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1995.

The Passover Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1996.

The Valentine's Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1997.

The New Year's Eve Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1997.

The Labor Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1998.

The Father's Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1999.

The Mother's Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2000.

The April Fools' Day Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2001.

The Happy Birthday Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2002.

The Bar Mitzvah Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2004.

The Silver Anniversary Murder, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2005.

"DETECTIVE JANE BAUER" MYSTERIES; UNDER PSEUDONYM LEE HARRIS

Murder in Hell's Kitchen, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2003.

Murder in Alphabet City, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2005.

Murder in Greenwich Village, Fawcett (New York, NY), 2006.

Leahy's works have been translated into several foreign languages including Swiss, German, and Norwegian.

ADAPTATIONS: The Good Friday Murder has been adapted as an audio book by Scheherazade Audio Visions; The Thanksgiving Day Murder and The Christmas Night Murder have adapted as audio books by Blackstone Audiobooks.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A mystery series under a pseudonym.

SIDELIGHTS: A former textbook writer, linguistic researcher, and teacher, Syrell Rogovin Leahy is perhaps best known for her two series of mystery novels written under the pseudonym Lee Harris. Both series feature female sleuths. Christine Bennett first appeared in the Edgar-nominated book The Good Friday Murder as a thirty-year-old ex-nun who often finds the solution to a crime buried in the past. As the series progresses, Christine marries and has a child but continues her crime-solving work. In a review of the ninth book in the series, 1997's The New Year's Eve Murder, a Publishers Weekly contributor acknowledged Leahy's "realistic dialogue and light unexpected touches" and termed the book "a winner."

Leahy's other lead character, forty-year-old Jane Bauer, made her first appearance in Murder in Hell's Kitchen as a New York Police Department detective preparing to leave her position of twenty years for a desk job at an insurance company. Before she leaves, however, Jane is given one last assignment: to solve a cold case involving a murder that took place more than four years ago. By the start of the second book in the series, Murder in Alphabet City, Jane has been promoted to detective first-grade and assigned to a new cold case.

Leahy once told CA: "I love writing fiction. If I didn't, I could never put in the hours and days and months it takes to produce a manuscript. I have done many things in my life from teaching to being a mother to renting cars at an airport, but writing has endured as the endlessly fascinating way to spend my time. It's hard work, sometimes even tedious work, but the truth is, I am more productive now than I was when I got out of graduate school loaded with energy and started to work for a living.

"I started writing because the ideas were there and I wanted to get them down. My first novel was written with number two pencils on lined pads of paper. Although I work on an electronic typewriter now and put the final draft on my computer, the process is still the same: write and edit, write and edit.

"My books have been published in England, Japan, and Israel in addition to the U.S. They have come out in hardcover and softcover and also in large-print editions. I have heard from readers in many states and as far away as South Africa, surely one of the great rewards of being published.

"The thing in my life that makes me most edgy is when I'm finished with one book and haven't yet started another. It's like being in limbo. I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure the muse is still there. I can never wait to get started on the next one."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, October 2, 1992, review of The Yom Kippur Murder, p. 73; August 30, 1993, review of The Christening Day Murder, p. 89; November 17, 1997, review of The New Year's Eve Murder, p. 59.

ONLINE

Nuns, Mothers, and Others: Mystery Writing by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts, and Valerie Wolzien (authors' shared home page), http://www.nmomysteries.com/ (March 6, 2006).