Dorothy Uhnak

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Dorothy Uhnak , actually Dorothy Goldstein , (born April 24, 1930 in Bronx , New York , † July 8, 2006 in Greenport , Suffolk County ) was an American policewoman and crime novelist .

Life

Uhnak had German ancestors through her Jewish father and Irish ancestry through her Catholic mother. After finishing school, she studied at the City College of New York . She then got a job with the newly established New York City Transit Authority ( MTA ). After 14 years of service, she quit there and began u. a. Study criminology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice .

During her time as a police officer, she married Anthony Uhnak and had a daughter with him. She lived with her husband in Shelter Island until her death on July 8, 2006 .

reception

Uhnak's literary debut is her novel “Policewoman”, which contains many autobiographical elements. But only with her second novel "Mädchenmord mit Voranmeldung" (The bait) did she achieve her literary and financial breakthrough. For this novel, Uhnak invented the protagonist Christie Opara from the NYPD and expanded this story into a trilogy in the years that followed. In “Victims”, one of her last publications, she dealt with the murder of Kitty Genovese in spring 1964. Several of her novels were also made into films.

Honors

Film adaptations

  • 1973: Leonard Horn (Director): The bait.
  • 1974: Alexander Grasshoff a . a. (Director): Get Christie Love! (TV series of 23 parts, based loosely on the novel The Ledger ).
  • 1976: Marvin J. Chomsky (Director): For Law and Order (based on the novel Law and Order ).
  • 1987: Alan Metzger (director): Kojak - The price of justice (based on the novel The investigation ).
  • 1989: Arthur Allan Seidelman (Director): Degraded by the Law (based on the novel false witness ).

Works (selection)

  • Christie Opara trilogy
  1. Girl murder with advance notice ("The bait"). 3rd edition Scherz, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-502-51508-5 .
  2. The persistent witness ("The witness"). 3rd edition Scherz, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-502-51577-8 .
  3. What had to be proven (“The Ledger”). 2nd edition Scherz, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-502-51084-9 .
  • Codes of Betrayal . St. Martin's Press, New York 1997, ISBN 0-312-15582-4 .
  • Because they were not afraid (“Law and order”). Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1979, ISBN 3-404-01134-1 (former title: Law and Order ).
  • False witness . Arrow Books, London 1982, ISBN 0-09-928410-3 .
  • The confession. Roman ("The investigation"). Droemer Knaur, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-426-00719-3 (also under the title A game ).
  • Policewoman. A young woman's initiation into the realities of justice . New edition Curley Press, South Yarmouth, Mass. 1982, ISBN 0-893-40348-2 .
  • The Ryer Avenue story . St. Martin's Press, New York 1993, ISBN 0-312-08888-4 .
  • Victims . Century Books, London 1986, ISBN 0-712-69450-1 .

literature

Essays
  • Armin Arnold: Reclam's detective novelist . Reclam, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-15-010278-2 , p. 337.
  • Philip I. Mitterling: Dorothy Uhnak. The development of a novelist . In: The Journal of popular culture , Vol. 16 (1982), pp. 88-98.
Books
  • Vera Nünning (Ed.): The American and British detective novel. Genre, developments, model interpretations . MVT, Trier 2008, ISBN 978-3-86821-071-2 .
  • Otto Penzler: Detecionary. A biographical dictionary of leading characters in detective and mystery fiction . Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY 1977, ISBN 0-87951-041-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uhnak shared this prize with E. Richard Johnson , of this prize for his novel Silver Street (dt. Death on Silver Street) got
  2. ↑ Uhnak shared this award with Anders Bodelsen , whose novel Crime sans châtiment (Original: Hændeligt uheld ) was awarded
personal data
SURNAME Uhnak, Dorothy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goldstein, Dorothy (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American policewoman and crime novelist
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 2006
Place of death Greenport , Suffolk County