New Delhi:
Judith Krantz, the romantic novelist who wrote best-selling novels such as “Scruples”, ‘Sex and shopping’’, “Princess Daisy” had died at the age of 91. The author whose books captivated readers worldwide with the steamy tales of the rich and beautiful much like the rich she had built for herself died on Saturday at her Bel-Air home.
Krantz’s son Tony Krantz, a TV executive, confirmed her death by natural causes on Sunday afternoon to the Associated Press.
Starting out as a magazine journalist, the writer married television producer Stephen Krantz in 1954 who encouraged her to try writing fiction. She went on to write “Scruples” as her first novel that became a best-seller, as did the nine that followed translating into 52 languages and sold more than 85 million copies worldwide.
She went on to become an editor of Good Housekeeping magazine and a contributing editor for Cosmopolitan, Krantz was among the most commercially successful female novelists, selling more than 100 million copies in dozens of languages.
Writing mostly from her own experiences at the at age 50 after gaining inspiration from conquering her fear of flying the characters she pens down are young, beautiful, sexually assertive women with successful careers with top-notch wardrobes.
"If you're going to write a good erotic scene, you have to go into details," Krantz told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. "I don't believe in thunder and lightning and fireworks exploding. I think people want to know what's happening."
The point of her books, she said, was to give women "a big bubble bath. It's a chocolate eclair. It's the kind of novel people love".
Krantz died from natural causes surrounded by family, friends and her four dogs, a family statement said. She is survived by her two sons.
