Volume 3, Issue 3 – June, 2000
Rochelle Majer Krich: Mystery Meets Social Conscience by Way of Hollywood
Domestic violence, fertility clinic scandals, Holocaust victims bilked out of their inheritance, murder, even talk radio psychotherapy find their way into Rochelle Majer Krich’s mystery novels. This doyenne of the mystery genre with nine novels and one movie to her credit, welcomes readers to a world of Orthodox Judaism, murder, family, mystery, marketing, research, creativity, what-ifs and social conscience.
Each morning this former high school English teacher shuts herself in her L.A. home office, pushing to meet her fast approaching August deadline for the fifth novel in her Jessica Drake mystery series. But Krich opened the door to Crescent Blues, offering readers a rare glimpse into her writings and her life.
Crescent Blues: How has being a mystery writer changed your life and the way you perceive life?
Rochelle Krich: For one thing, my life is much busier! I don’t seem to have much free time. I’m either researching and writing, meeting deadlines, editing a manuscript, correcting galleys, arranging for promotional opportunities and simultaneously trying to run a household. The positive side is that I’m never bored. Writing mysteries has also made me more cautious when I’m around strangers, and I’m always careful to lock my car doors. [Editor’s note: in Krich’s novel Fair Game, one of the victims is killed because she left her car door open.] I don’t think, though, that writing mysteries has made me cynical or unduly suspicious.
Your first novel, Where’s Mommy Now?, won the prestigious Anthony award for best paperback original. Then director Kevin Meyer made it into the movie Perfect Alibi, starring Teri Garr, Catherine Quinlan and Hector Elizondo. How did you manage to grab the gold ring on your first writing-go-round?
Serendipity. A local cable TV book show host interviewed me and mentioned the book to her friend, Bruce Cohn Curtis, a producer. Bruce loved the book and told me someday he’d produce it. Years passed, and he kept his promise. We’ve become good friends, and he wants to produce and direct another one of my books, Till Death Do Us Part. Just today he phoned and told me he’s serious about doing it — it’s “his baby,” he says. So who knows? I hope history will repeat itself, and his promise will come true.
Tell us about your experience in filmmaking. Were you involved in writing the script or providing consultation on scenes and characters? What was it like to watch your characters turn into movie stars?
I’d heard numerous stories (horror ones, for the most part) from writers who had sold their books to be made into films, so I was prepared to hate the script. Actually, the script wasn’t terrible — a little thin on character, and minus peripheral characters that gave the book more layers.
Mostly it stayed true to the plot. In the book, my amateur sleuth has a husband and three children; in the script, she (Teri Garr) is the widow of a detective and has a shrill aunt (Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza’s mother on Seinfeld) who is nagging her to remarry. I didn’t mind that change, and it allowed the writer to develop a relationship between Teri Garr and the homicide detective, played by Hector Elizondo. The screenwriter/director also added a speeding car scene (don’t ask) which ends up in a steamy sex scene that made me cringe at the screening, to which I’d invited my father. To his credit, the writer wrote a deliciously creepy scene that I wish I’d created myself.
Technically, I was the consultant but the screenwriter didn’t particularly want my input. In one case, though, I persisted. In the book, the killer makes a woman’s death look accidental. In the script, the killer attacks the woman, starts choking her and pushes her down a flight of stairs. I mentioned that this was a serious problem — a medical examiner would notice marks on the woman’s neck and realize this was a homicide. The writer told me I was being picky. I told Bruce (the producer) that the movie would immediately lose credibility with the audience. Bruce agreed, and the choking was eliminated.
In another scene, a character dies an interminably long death that becomes comical. At my request, they trimmed the scene, but not enough. It still struck me as melodramatic.
I thought the casting was perfect, and seeing my characters come to life was incredibly exciting — and almost unreal. And a great deal of fun.
Did you visit the set, meet the stars, have the whole Hollywood experience?
I visited the set a few times and talked with the stars, most of whom were warm and friendly. At the wrap party, everyone in the cast and crew signed a copy of Where’s Mommy Now? That’s something I’ll always treasure.
I was impressed by the careful attention to detail and consistency. In one scene that takes place at a bar, the continuity person measured the amount of liquid in the glasses and the length of the celery stick to make sure everything was the same in subsequent takes. I was also impressed by how quickly the actors learned their lines. There were several funny mistakes, a result of footage left on the cutting room floor: In one scene Teri Garr is getting into a car with the detective and putting on her sunglasses. In the next frame in the car, she has no glasses on.
What did you like about the movie? Anything you’d do differently?
I liked the casting, the production values, and most of the storyline. Much of my dialogue stayed intact — I was grateful for that. I thought the background music was too loud and melodramatic. And that speeding car scene…
After such a momentous beginning, what kind of pressures did you face, sitting at the keyboard to write your second novel, Till Death Do Us Part? Was instant success a blessing or a problem?
Actually, I wrote Till Death Do Us Part first. I sent it out unagented, received encouraging rejection letters (a terrific oxymoron, I think) and set about writing Where’s Mommy Now? I think, in retrospect, I was lucky with the order of events, because you’re right — I would have felt pressured to equal the book that had been made into a movie.
After I sold Where’s Mommy Now? I revised Till Death Do Us Part — lopped off several hundred pages from a 705-page manuscript by beginning later in the book. I’d come to realize, after putting the book aside, that I’d started the story too early. The book deals with an Orthodox Jewish woman whose vindictive husband won’t give her a “get” — the Jewish divorce without which she can never remarry. Originally, I began with the courtship and dissolution of the marriage. The revised version begins with my heroine already having her civil divorce. It was tighter, and I showed the problems that led to the divorce by means of short flashbacks.
From everything I’ve read about you, religion plays a very important role in your life. How do your religion and your writing reinforce (or interfere with) each other? What particular veins of the Orthodox tradition do you find most helpful to draw on in your work?
Writing has actually made me more comfortable about being Jewish in non-Jewish settings. When I became a published writer, I was initially apprehensive about broadcasting my Orthodoxy, not knowing how it would be received. The first time I went to dinner with a group who had invited me to speak about my books, I ordered a fruit plate. When one of the women asked me whether I was on a special diet, I replied yes, but didn’t tell her that I keep kosher. Now I’m up front about the fact that I keep kosher and that I can’t do signings on the Sabbath or Jewish holidays. So writing has been liberating.
Being Orthodox also helps me keep my priorities straight. I tend to be compulsive about my career — I write late into the night and seek numerous promotional opportunities. If I didn’t keep the Sabbath, I would be writing or promoting on Friday nights and Saturdays, but when sundown arrives on Friday, I shut off my computer and feel no guilt. I don’t answer the phone or write or fax. I use the 25 hours to focus on my family and my faith, to become spiritually centered.
I have occasionally missed out on a promotional opportunity because it conflicts with my Sabbath or holidays. While I may have felt a flash of disappointment (I’d be lying if I claimed otherwise), a moment later I realize that not being able to participate is an important reminder that while my career is supremely important to me, it doesn’t define who I am.
In writing about Orthodox Judaism, I try to present the richness of the traditions and lifestyle and to dispel the stereotype of the Orthodox Jew who lives in a hamlet and has no connection with the secular world. Orthodox Jews are not all rabbis and their wives. They are doctors and plumbers, engineers and businessmen, homemakers and teachers, scientists and electricians.
I also enjoy drawing on the ethics of Judaism. In Speak No Evil, for example, my heroine, Debra Laslow, a criminal defense attorney, frequently asks advice from her father, a rabbi, when she’s conflicted about her profession, or when she’s not sure what the Torah law — the halacha — would tell her to. I learned a great deal about the criminal justice system in that book, and also about the Jewish legal system.
With Jessie, who discovered in Angel of Death that she’s Jewish, I can explore so many facets of Judaism through her eyes.
Many of your mysteries explore the theme of trust betrayed. What do you consider the source of this recurring motif?
A fascinating question, one I hadn’t considered. Thankfully, I can say that this has no relevance to my own life experience. I am fortunate to have family and friends who are faithful and caring. But I suppose I have a devious imagination! The truth is, that I’m fascinated by the human condition, by the way people relate to each other, and I think that there are many forms of betrayal that can lead to violence: betrayal between husband and wife, partners, mother and daughter, sisters, brothers, friends. The possibilities are endless, and endlessly intriguing.
Can you give us a sneak preview of your current project? How will it develop the themes you’ve established in your other books?
I’m writing the next Jessie Drake mystery, tentatively titled Wayward Son. The book begins with the murders of a plastic surgeon and two of his staff, and deals with teen violence. There’s a section in the Bible that talks about the wayward and rebellious son who is executed by the people in the city when he refuses to “listen to the voices of his parents.” I’m going to explore the layered meanings behind that. I’m also planning to bring Debra Laslow into the book — it’s a natural meeting (Jessie’s a detective, Debra’s a prosecutor), and Jessie could use a girlfriend.
How did Jessica Drake evolve into a series character?
Jessie was born in response to 16 rejection letters that I received for Fair Game (originally titled Death Across the Board), three of which said that the writing and plot were great but the detective hero (a male) was bland. I immediately knew that I wanted to learn more about Jessie — I cared about her as I hadn’t cared about the other detective. When I was writing Angel of Death, Jessie and I realized at the same time that she was Jewish. Well, okay, I had a small head start. So I went back to Fair Game, which was in galleys, and inserted a brief reference to the fact that Jessie’s mother had some distant Jewish relatives.
Each of your characters seems whole and individual and utterly believable right down to the way they chose their cantaloupes. How do you get to know them and their lives so intimately? Are these real people?
I’m fascinated by people. I like to watch the way they walk, the way they gesture. I listen to the way they talk, and laugh, and argue. When I write, I try to put myself into the mind of the character. I suppose that there are bits and pieces of real people in the characters I create, but I’ve never transplanted a real person into the pages of one of my books.
When Where’s Mommy Now? was published, a casual acquaintance approached me at a school event and insisted that she was the basis for the character of Laney Tolbert, the amateur sleuth. I told her no. “But we drive the same car,” she said. I told her I didn’t know what kind of car she drove. “But we live on the same street!” I told her I had no idea where she lived. “But my best friend lives on Las Palmas, and Laney’s best friend, Kate, lives on Las Palmas.” Nothing would convince this woman that she wasn’t the model for Laney. When I recounted the experience to my husband, he told me I’d been foolish — I should have agreed, and she would have bought hundreds of copies of the book!
How have readers reacted to Renee Altman, the on-air psychotherapist in your current Jessica Drake novel Dead Air? What inspired you to take on the challenge of making such a self-centered personality the core character of your latest mystery?
I’ve been surprised by the mixed reactions to Dr. Renee. I created her as a self-centered, opinionated woman who is caustic with her callers and doesn’t always hear what they’re saying. I realized it was risky writing a central character who isn’t particularly likable, but I balanced that by showing her to be a caring, worried mother determined not to give up custody of her daughter.
Some people dislike Dr. Renee. Some feel sorry for her. Some think she’s off the wall in the advice she dispenses. Some think she’s doing fine. This illustrated to me that the way I envision a character and write the character isn’t necessarily the way that character is perceived by the reader. And that’s the beauty of books. Films, while exciting in their own right (and I’m a movie lover, as are my daughters), limit a person’s imagination. Books allow the reader to add his or her own vision of a character.
Renee seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to the radio psychologist Dr. Laura. Has this caused you any problems?
I certainly had Dr. Laura in mind when I wrote the character, in the sense that I wanted to create a talk show host who doesn’t mince words and spares no feelings. But I wanted Dr. Renee to be a real person, not a stereotype. I haven’t heard from Dr. Laura, and have no idea whether she’s aware of my book and Dr. Renee. I wonder what she’d think….
Do you ever base your mysteries on people or situations you encounter in real life?
I certainly base plot elements on situations or events that have taken place in real life. Till Death Do Us Part, which deals with the problem of a woman who can’t obtain her “get,” is based on women who actually face that terrible limbo. Fertile Ground was based in part on the embryo-switching scandal that rocked UC Irvine’s fertility clinic and in part on an article I read in The Los Angeles Times about young women being recruited to donate eggs.
My inspiration for the plot of Blood Money was the expose of the less than noble Swiss handling of Holocaust victim’s bank accounts, and the character of the murder victim, Holocaust survivor Nathan Pomerantz, was based on my father. Most of the experiences that I attribute to Nathan are my father’s actual experiences before, during, and after the war. I feel privileged to have been able to tell a small part of my father’s story of courage and survival.
What do you think “microwave psychology” says about America and its people?
We live in a fast-food society. We want instant gratification. With all the technological advances, we are busier than ever and conduct our lives at a more frantic pace. At the same time, while we are connected as never before by phone and fax and email, we are sometimes a civilization of lonely people who turn to strangers for advice and hand-holding.
What inspired you to delve into the issue of domestic violence in your novel Dead Air?
I’m sorry to say that the basis for this element of the book was the murder of a woman in my Orthodox community. I knew Rita, though not well, and my children and hers attended the same schools. We heard at one point that her husband was abusing her and that she’d sought help. We heard, again, that while Rita’s social worker had urged her to leave her husband and seek safety, her parents had urged her to stay and preserve the family unit. Then one day Rita disappeared.
Her best friend told the police that Rita had met with the foul play. The police interviewed the husband, who claimed that Rita had left because they’d argued, and that he too was worried about her. The friend persisted and the police ultimately found Rita’s body in a warehouse blocks from my home. She had been strangled to death in her house, while the children were asleep. The husband fled, taking his young son with him. For some reason he returned and was apprehended. He was convicted of second degree murder — the D.A. couldn’t try him on first degree unless the children testified and the court psychiatrist felt that this would be too emotionally damaging.
The funeral was horrific. The rabbi, who could barely speak, talked about communal responsibility and even without his words we were all wondering whether we could have done something to save Rita. After the funeral, as we were all leaving, Rita’s mother assaulted the friend who had reported her daughter missing to the police. Strange, and pitiful, and so painful I wrote Dead Air to empower Rita and women like her — to give her a chance to survive.
Which among the social problems confronted in your books gave you the most satisfaction to address?
That’s a tough question! I’ll choose two: One is the problem of the agunah — the woman who is trapped in a terrible limbo because her husband won’t give her a get. I feel passionate about the subject because it’s such a travesty not only of women’s rights, but of the Torah law which is intended to protect women. Subsequent to writing the book, three of my close friends found themselves in this terrible situation. They all eventually obtained a get — but at an expensive price.
The other issue is Holocaust denial, which I tackle in Angel of Death. As the daughter of Holocaust survivors who lost almost their entire families to the Nazis, I’m appalled and frightened by liars who call themselves historians (like David Irving, who was recently soundly defeated in his suit against Debra Lipstadt and was called a liar and anti-Semite by the British judge who ruled against him) and claim that the Holocaust never happened. I wanted to write an entertaining mystery. More than that, I wanted to reach that segment of the population that might not pick up a nonfiction work on the Holocaust and might be easy prey to Holocaust deniers who claim to be offering a “different” view of history. I’ve been enormously gratified by the response to that book.
I was fascinated with the premise for your novel Fertile Ground. How did you go about researching the topic of fertility, the profession and the problems?
I visited a fertility clinic and read pages and pages of material on the different techniques used in assisted reproduction. I also clipped every article that appeared about the UC Irving scandal. I even found a Consumer Reports issue that rated fertility clinics and discussed their success rates! For the Jewish element, I spoke with rabbis about the Torah laws — the halacha — concerning assisted reproduction, aspects that include egg donation and artificial insemination. I learned a great deal, some of it eye-opening, some of it troubling.
What were the particular challenges of presenting this issue in the context of a novel? How did you keep the book from sounding preachy?
I wasn’t worried about being preachy so much as too technical. The challenge was in presenting the science as a natural part of the narrative and not boring the reader with detail. But I knew that mystery readers, more than any other group, enjoy learning about different subjects and worlds.
Blood Money spoke of issues close to my heart when you addressed the problems that men and women face as they become elderly and vulnerable. The issues facing Holocaust survivors fascinated me. What sources did you draw upon to paint such realistic situations?
I had read in The Los Angeles Times that ruthless people were hijacking elderly residents of board and care facilities so that they could get their Social Security and MediCal checks. I was horrified and knew I wanted to deal with that subject within a larger context. I also knew from my students, who would visit with board and care residents every Friday afternoon, that these elderly people were invariably lonely and craved company. At the same time, some of them are fiercely proud of their independence.
As to my depiction of Holocaust survivors, as I mentioned, Nathan Pomerantz is based on my father. And the truth is that, as a child and teenager, my world was composed of Holocaust survivors. I had no grandparents — I never knew what that was like. I have a surviving uncle from my mother’s side (there were seven siblings, some of whom had been married before they were taken, some with children), but my uncle and his family live in Israel. My surrogate family — aunts, uncles, cousins — were friends of my parents and their children. All Holocaust survivors. Sadly, they are ailing and, one by one, dying. And with each death, I feel again the pain of my mother’s death twenty-nine years ago.
Please, tell us how you made the transition from educator to mystery writer? What prompted that first novel? Did your background in education and English enhance your writing career?
I had fantasized for as long as I can remember about being a writer but didn’t sit down and write until about twelve years ago, when my husband told me to “stop talking about it and just do it.” In retrospect, I think I feared failure — as long as I only fantasized, I couldn’t fail.
The first novel I wrote, Till Death Do Us Part (it was the second published), deals with agunot — women whose husbands won’t give them a get, a Jewish divorce.
I don’t think my background in English and education enhanced my career — it certainly complicated my day and made me treasure the hours I was able to steal to write. Actually, being a writer, and receiving critiques from editors and copy editors and reviewers, gave me a different perspective on the marks I was putting on my students’ papers. I became a kinder “editor,” more tactful and considerate in my comments, though no less honest.
I do think, though, that teaching helped me as a speaker. Having captured the attention of teenagers who are not all willing members of a classroom audience, I found it far easier addressing adults who elected to come hear me.
Was your husband Hershie surprised by your success? How have he, your children and your grandchildren reacted to your new career?
I don’t think he was surprised by my success — he was surprised, and continues to be surprised, by the amount of promotion authors have to do. He and my children are extremely supportive and encouraging (and sometimes crabby, complaining that “I’m married to the computer”). My grandchildren range from six months to two-and-a-half, so they haven’t reacted yet to my career. Although only yesterday, my daughter-in-law told me that Jacob, the two-and-a-half year-old, was looking at the local Jewish newspaper and said, “There’s Nana!” She thought he was being silly. When he said it again, she took a look — and there was a photo of me, accompanying an interview.
Some authors find different writing rituals enhance their creativity — what rituals do you follow? What procedures do you follow when researching each novel?
I don’t follow any specific rituals, although I prefer writing on my computer at my desk to using a laptop elsewhere. Mornings, after car pool and breakfast, I like to take a cup of coffee (at the age of 50, I began drinking coffee — Taster’s Choice French Vanilla, which my friends tell me is colored water).
I research as I go along — not an organized way to do things — and it necessitates interrupting the writing from time to time. But I’m eager to write, and I do find that I’m more excited about information I’ve learned when I can immediately work it into the narrative. I do a great deal of newspaper clipping, and I make phone calls to police detectives who help me with procedure. For Speak No Evil, which deals with the criminal justice system, I sat in on a trial, heard a voir dire, and spoke to criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors. I also read a book on date rape, as that is central to the book.
Do you begin a new novel with the characters or the plot or how does it evolve?
I generally begin with the plot, but I’m not comfortable with the story until I know who the characters are. For me, mysteries are not only about whodunit but, more importantly, whydunnit. I’m more fascinated by the motivation than the action.
What is your advice to budding authors starting a career in this new publishing era of ebooks, mega-publishing conglomerates, competition and Internet marketing?
Write the best book you can. Be compulsive and dedicate a certain amount of time a day. Don’t be disheartened by rejection — either from editors or reviewers. Everyone encounters rejection, and a rejection is just one person’s opinion. Blood Money received rave reviews, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly, yet a small New York paper wrote that “this is obviously Ms. Krich’s first book, and we hope she’ll improve.”
Attend mystery conferences where you can network with other mystery writers, agents, and editors. Join Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Don’t try to write a book that fits a trend — by the time your book is finished, bought, edited, and published, the trend will be long over. Don’t forget that you’re writing because it’s a passion.
Be prepared to invest a great deal of time and possibly some money to promote your work.
What authors do you read to inspire you?
My reading taste is eclectic. I recently read The Reader, by Bernard Schlink, and found it engrossing. Then I read Harlan Coben’s Final Detail, which I enjoyed. Also read Memoirs of a Geisha — a wonderful book with a disappointingly cliched ending. One of the most inspiring mysteries I have ever read is Alice Hoffman’s Turtle Moon. And I laughed a great deal at Bridget Jones’s Diary.
How do you feel about comparisons made between your work and Faye Kellerman’s?
Faye and I write very different mysteries, and the only commonality is the Jewish content. But I welcome all her readers to try mine!
I couldn’t help but notice the change in image from the author’s cover photo on earlier books to the current glamour shot included in Dead Air and Blood Money. Does the picture reflect a change in the basic woman or the image? Why?
Funny, I don’t think of that as a “glamour shot!” I thought the jacket made me look very author-like and I wanted to get away from the traditional “chin resting on folded hands” pose. The day I had the photo taken, I was suffering from a migraine headache and could barely see the photographer. I worried that I’d look glazed, but I was pleased with the product.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
I’d love to hear from readers. They can email me at rmkrich@aol.com.
Dawn Goldsmith
A multi-published writer of non-fiction and short stories, Dawn Goldsmith also reviews mass market books for Publishers Weekly and writes for a variety of publications including Christian Science Monitor.