Rosenfeld, Arthur

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ROSENFELD, Arthur

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Graduated from Yale University; graduate study at the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine/Cornell University, and at the University of California at San Diego Writer's Program.

ADDRESSES: Home—Pompano Beach, FL. Agent—Jack Scovil, SCG Lit, 381 Park Ave. South, New York, NY, 10016. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Author and novelist.

AWARDS, HONORS: Finalist, Books for a Better Life Award, for The Truth about Chronic Pain: Patients and Professionals on How to Face It, Understand It, Overcome It.

WRITINGS:

novels

Harpoons, Delta Fiction (New York, NY), 1989.

Trigger Man, New American Library (New York, NY), 1989.

Dark Money, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Dark Tracks, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1992.

A Cure for Gravity, Forge (New York, NY), 2000.

Diamond Eye, Forge (New York, NY), 2001.

other

Exotic Pets, illustrations by Glenn Wolff, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1987.

The Truth about Chronic Pain: Patients and Professionals on How to Face It, Understand It, Overcome It, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including Vogue and Vanity Fair.

SIDELIGHTS: Arthur Rosenfeld is the author of six crime novels. In Dark Money, ex-police officer and SWAT sharpshooter Nestor Dark inherits a fortune of 260 million dollars, allowing him to leave behind the stress and dangers of law enforcement for the calmer, and safer, world of philanthropy. His playthings are, of course, the finest things that money can buy: his automobiles, guns, and meals top-of-the-line. When a possible counterfeit coin scam brings him out of his monied retirement, Dark once again has the opportunity to display his James Bond-like skills at martial arts, crime detection, and womanizing. In the end, "this whodunit isn't about plot or character but about the gimmicks they allow," concluded a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

Nestor Dark appears again in Dark Tracks. Dark funds an expedition for his lifelong friend, Dr. Joel Tinker, to search for the rare, and possibly extinct, Tasmanian tiger. Tinker's murder draws Dark to Australia to find the killer and avenge his friend. The investigation turns sinister when Dark encounters an eccentric Japanese collector of exotic animals, and when Dark begins to impede some international companies' logging and paper interests. The book provides "enough action and exotica to keep the pages turning," noted a Publishers Weekly critic.

In A Cure for Gravity, Umberto Santana is on the run after committing a bank robbery. Bad enough that he is wanted for the heist by the police, but things are complicated by the fact that a senator died of a heart attack in the excitement of the robbery—which brought in the FBI. During a tornado in the Oklahoma panhandle, Santana meets Mercury Gant, who is on his way to Port Townsend, Washington, to meet Audrey, the six-year-old daughter he never knew he had. As the two continue their ride west together, other plots unfold. The dead senator's husband seeks revenge against Santana for his wife's death. The FBI agent in charge of the investigation, Eagle Cooper, begins to fall for Suzanne Emerson, the heiress whose cache of unmarked bills, intended for use in a highend car auction, was stolen by Santana. And Gant continues to work through his feelings for Caroline, Audrey's mother, whose own past is marred by murder and tragedy. A Publishers Weekly critic found that "there's a bravura innocence at the heart of this offbeat novel that eventually wins the readers affection." Booklist reviewer George Needham commented favorably on the "complexity and delicate layering of Rosenfeld's picaresque novel," calling it "a touching ghost story that eludes easy comparison to any other book."

Max Diamond, the narrator of mystery novel Diamond Eye, is a U.S. postal inspector in Boca Raton, Florida. A Taoist and practitioner of T'ai Chi Chuan, Diamond performs the thankless tasks of his job almost as routine. The murder of a friend and co-worker leads Diamond to a child pornography and snuff-film ring operating between Peru and southern Florida. The dreadful and illegal materials appear to be connected to a local Latino crime boss, Cuco O'Burke, but Diamond finds it hard to pin anything on the lowprofile O'Burke. More murders occur when two of Diamond's college friends from Yale University, both now lawyers from South Beach, are killed under bizarre circumstances. Even worse for Diamond is the apparent connection between these murders and the sudden reappearance of Phayle Tollard, an ex-lover for whom the flame still burns a little. "In another author's hands, this premise might have led to a gloomy, dispiriting tale," remarked J. Kingston Pierce in January Online. "However, Rosenfeld consciously packs Diamond Eye with enough entertaining subplots and enchantingly eccentric secondary characters that the darkness at its core, while never trivialized, also never overwhelms." Booklist reviewer David Pitt called the story "delightfully twisty turny and, at times, surprisingly thought provoking." The author "boasts a surprisingly polished narrative voice and some skill at engineering suspense," Pierce observed. A Publishers Weekly critic concluded that "Rosenfeld crafts a high-action suspense thriller with plenty of wry humor and cultural commentary."

Rosenfeld turns to nonfiction with The Truth about Chronic Pain: Patients and Professionals on How to Face It, Understand It, Overcome It. In the book, Rosenfeld offers thirty-six interviews from a variety of resources, including patients and their caregivers, legislators, and clergy members who address the life-altering issues of chronic pain and its effects. The interviewees discuss chronic pain from a variety of standpoints, including ethical, medical, moral, legal, and cultural views on enduring, controlling, and ending chronic pain. Rosenfeld does not avoid the tricky issues; some patients are not helped because of fears of addiction to medication, while others believe that enduring pain is simply another facet of life. The book also explores other obstacles, such as side effects of medication and the unwillingness of insurance companies to cover long-term treatments. Library Journal reviewer James Swanton commented that "this excellent book presents intelligent, professional, and compassionate answers from experts."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, August, 2000, George Needham, review of A Cure for Gravity, p. 2116; June 1, 2001, David Pitt, review of Diamond Eye, p. 1851.

Library Journal, May 15, 2003, James Swanton, review of The Truth about Chronic Pain: Patients and Professionals on How to Face It, Understand It, Overcome It, p. 116.

Publishers Weekly, February 24, 1992, review of Dark Money, p. 50; September 7, 1992, review of Dark Tracks, p. 91; July 10, 2000, review of A Cure for Gravity, p. 40; July 2, 2001, review of Diamond Eye, p. 54.

Science News, August 9, 2003, Cait Goldberg, review of The Truth about Chronic Pain: Patients and Professionals on How to Face It, Understand It, Overcome It, p. 95.