Origin Story

Yes, Such Good Friends originated with an intriguing suggestion from my trusted agent Mitchell Waters and trusted Kensington editor John Scognamiglio, but in a way its roots go way back to the late '60s and early '70s, when I was working at Purity Ice Cream in Ithaca, New York, during my stint at Cornell. In Purity's employee break room I would always find copies of the New York Daily News, containing the society column by the legendary gossipeuse Suzy.

The column was lively and informative, and struck just the right tone when describing both the accomplishments and the hijinks of those (mostly) rich folks then called the Jet Set. I was addicted to it! There I was, sitting on a beat-up plastic chair in a cell-like, concrete-block room with mint-green walls, my smock stained with the ice cream I had been scooping for hours, reading (and dreaming) about splendid social events like the ball for 1,000 that Bolivian tin king Antenor Patiño hosted at his palace above Cascais, Portugal. And then there were Suzy's references to Truman and Lee...