New York īy the time her father died in 1924, Caspary was fully supporting her mother, who was impressed that her daughter could pound money out of a typewriter. By 1922, she had turned down a raise from $50 to $75 to write from home and work on her first novel.

She was also producing articles for publications such as Finger Print Magazine, and the New York-based Dance Lovers Magazine. Caspary wrote all the materials for this and other correspondence courses she had little knowledge of, including one that taught screenwriting. While working at an advertising agency composing copy, she invented the fictitious 'Sergei Marinoff School of Classic Dancing', a mail order dance course. She went through a string of menial office jobs, looking for one where she could write instead of taking dictation from people with bad grammar.

Īfter her graduation from high school in 1917, her father enrolled her in a six-month course in a business college, and by January 1918, Caspary found herself working as a stenographer. Being such a surprise to her family, Caspary was thoroughly spoiled as a child. Caspary’s parents were both second generation German Jewish and Russian Jewish immigrants. Her father Paul was a buyer for a department store. Biography Ĭaspary was born prematurely in Chicago – her mother, Julia (née Cohen), already over 40 with three other nearly-grown children, had hidden her condition. The couple split their time between Hollywood and Europe until Igee's death in 1964, after which Caspary remained in New York where she wrote a further eight books. She eventually married her lover and writing collaborator of six years, Isidor 'Igee' Goldsmith but despite this being a successful partnership, her Communist connections later led to her being 'graylisted', temporarily yet significantly affecting their offers of work and income. Caspary visited Russia in an attempt to confirm her beliefs, but became disillusioned and wished to resign from the Party, although she continued to contribute money and support similar causes. Caspary joined the Communist party under an alias, but not being totally committed and at odds with its code of secrecy, she claimed to have confined her activities to fund-raising and hosting meetings. įollowing her father's death, the income from Caspary's writing was at times only just sufficient to support both herself and her mother, and during the Great Depression she became interested in Socialist causes. Independence is the key to her protagonists, with her novels revolving around women who are menaced, but who turn out to be neither victimized nor rescued damsels.

Though she claimed she was not a 'real' mystery writer, her novels effectively merged women's quest for identity and love with murder plots. Her best-known novel, Laura, was made into a successful movie. Vera Louise Caspary (Novem– June 13, 1987) was an American writer of novels, plays, screenplays, and short stories.

Laura by vera caspary