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Judith Krantz, "who almost single-handedly turned the sex-and-shopping genre of fiction into the stuff of high commerce, making her one of the world's bestselling novelists if not one of the most critically acclaimed," died June 22, the New York Times reported. She was 91. Although she did not publish her first book until she was 50, Krantz's 10 novels--beginning with Scruples in 1978 and ending with The Jewels of Tessa Kent in 1998--have together sold more than 85 million copies in more than 50 languages.
Most of her books also became TV movies or mini-series, often produced by her husband, Steve Krantz. Her other works include the novels Mistral's Daughter (1982), I'll Take Manhattan (1986), Dazzle (1990), Scruples Two (1992) and a memoir, Sex and Shopping: Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl (2000).
The formula Krantz "honed to glittering perfection" involved "fevered horizontal activities combined with fevered vertical ones--the former taking place in sumptuously appointed bedrooms and five-star hotels, the latter anywhere with a cash register and astronomical price tags," the Times wrote, adding that a "hallmark of the formula was that it embraced sex and shopping in almost equal measure, with each recounted in modifier-laden detail."
In response to critics of her style, Krantz told the Los Angeles Times in 1990: "I write the best books that I know how; I can't write any better than this. People think that because I had a good education, I'm not writing on the level that I should. They think I'm harboring some slim little intellectual volume, that I am really Isaac Bashevis Singer in disguise."
Krantz "was renowned for her discipline and rigor," the L.A. Times reported, "writing 10,000 words per week and spending countless hours researching the historical eras in which her books were set. Her books often featured working women and themes of empowerment and achievement, complex characters and intricate plots."
Because of her love for reading and writing, Krantz was an enthusiastic supporter of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and an active member of the Council of the Library Foundation, the Hollywood Reporter noted. In 2014, she received the Light of Learning Award from the LFLA. In recognition of her many years of support, the Los Angeles Public Library named the Judith Krantz Fiction Collection in her honor.