Nelson DeMille hailed by Susan Isaacs, more as a genuine person and a successful storyteller

As a budding writer in the 2010s, Steve Israel had a pretty good tutor: Nelson DeMille, the Garden City-based author of "The Gold Coast." Israel, then a U.S. representative in Congress, had met DeMille through a mutual friend and was hoping for a little feedback. Perhaps even a jacket blurb.

Israel wound up with both of those and, to his surprise, a personal referral to DeMille's agent.

The whole experience, Israel recalled Wednesday, was "like being in Little League and being coached by Mickey Mantle."

DeMille, who died Tuesday from esophageal cancer at the age of 81, leaves behind an entire shelf’s worth of hefty novels, including 1990’s “The Gold Coast,” the story of a well-heeled Long Island tax lawyer who matches wits with a well-known mobster, and 1997’s “Plum Island,” about a New York City cop whose quiet life on the Great Peconic Bay is disrupted by a pair of murders. All told, DeMille wrote 23 books, including 17 bestsellers, according to his official website. Long Islanders, however, remembered DeMille not just as a massively popular author but as a mentor to writers, a supporter of local bookstores and the rare celebrity who never tired of speaking to his fans.

“The lines were always full, I can tell you that,” Claudia Copquin, founder of the Long Island LitFest, said of the two DeMille appearances she helped co-ordinate (one with Newsday in 2022). “And the lines with him took a long time,” she added, “because he made it a point to speak to every person that wanted their book signed. He would ask people what town they’re from, what did they do for a living? He was always engaged with people in the audience.”

Though DeMille reportedly could come off as gruff — the nickname “Mudgie,” given to him by his daughter, Lauren, was short for “curmudgeon” — Copquin said she never saw that side of him. "I only saw him as a warm person — genuine," she said.

That impression was echoed by Larry Davidson, a television and radio veteran who interviewed DeMille numerous times. “He was a regular guy but also a member of Mensa,” said Davidson, who hosts the Holbrook-based podcast "The Artful Periscope." “I’ve been around some people who know who they are, and they let you know who they are. That was never the case with Nelson.”

Susan Isaacs, another well-known Long Island novelist (“Compromising Positions,” “After All These Years”) and a longtime friend, recalled DeMille as a lively dinner companion who liked to trade jibes but never lorded his success over others. Around the time “The Gold Coast” became a hit, “I said, ‘You’re kind of coming near my turf, and I’m worried because you’re so good,’” recalled Isaacs of Sands Point. “He said, ‘That’s all right, we can divide up Long Island. But I get the North Fork.’”

Isaacs also remembered DeMille as one of the most consistent members of a writers’ group with Harlan Coben, Lawrence Bloch, Mary Higgins Clark and others. Even as some members lost interest or dropped out during COVID, “I saw the friendships that he seemed to make,” Isaacs said. “You wanted his toughness and his irreverence and his kindness. And that was all there.”

Israel, now a bookseller who owns Theodore’s Books in Oyster Bay, said DeMille’s common touch endeared him to readers, particularly local ones. “He talked to me about how his characters were studies of Long Islanders,” Israel said. “He wrote about cops because he lived among cops. He wrote about the Gold Coast because he traveled through the Gold Coast. And he excelled at snark, because Long Islanders are inherently snarky.”

DeMille’s catalog ranged over genres, from sudsy dramas like “The Gold Coast” to travelogue thrillers (“The Cuban Affair,” about a Key West charter boat captain) to crime fiction (“The Maze,” inspired by the Gilgo Beach killings). “They read easily,” said Colleen Kinneary, owner of The Neverending Story bookshop in Babylon. “He was able to craft a story that was engaging without being overwhelming, which is really difficult to do.”

She added: “You knew people were going to be excited when a new book was coming out. That, to me, is the ultimate sign of a successful storyteller.”

Israel said he and DeMille had exchanged emails within the past few months, though DeMille’s assistant at one point stepped in to say the author had been ill. An email from DeMille, saying he was feeling better, followed.

“I emailed him two weeks ago and didn’t hear back. That worried me,” Israel said. “Now I know why.”

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman