Southampton's Sally Weinraub, 95, Publishes Four Novels

Southampton resident and former appeals attorney Sally Weinraub has published her first four novels simultaneously at the age of 95.

The novels all revolve around British-born sleuth Emily Lewis, following her through four mysteries: In Six Weeks’ Time, Murder on the Intrepid, Death of a Goddess, Murder at the Mikvah.

In Six Weeks’ Time, Emily Lewis’s first adventure, follows the gumshoe as she adjourns to Reno in 1964 awaiting the finalization of her divorce. After a murder shatters the normalcy and camaraderie of the guesthouse she’s staying in, she is unwittingly drawn into a complex web of mystery.

Murder on the Intrepid, set in 1982, involves the opening of the USS Intrepid as a war museum in New York City. After a soldier who served on the Intrepid is arrested after being spotted at the murder of two skinheads, Emily Lewis is drawn in, sensing that a deeper mystery lies beneath the falsely accused veteran.

Death of a Goddess follows the investigation of a Broadway actress’s murder after her body is found backstage. Emily and her investigator beau, Raymond, agree to solve the case, colliding with jewel thieves in the process.

Murder at the Mikvah shows Emily Lewis and private eye Sid investigating a bride, Hannah, accused of the murder of her lover in a bathhouse. The duo aims to clear her name and bring forth the true killer.

Though not a detective like her literary analog Emily Lewis, Weinraub has led quite an interesting and eventful life. She emigrated from Manchester to Brooklyn in the early years of World War II, where she became an editor for The Victory Bulletin, a monthly wartime periodical sent to soldiers abroad. Following the war, she attended Manhattanville College in Westchester County, where she graduated at the top of her class. At 50, she attended Brooklyn Law School, graduating as one of only 14 women in a class of 104 students.

Weinraub worked as an appeals attorney for the next 30 years, though she didn’t begin writing until after she retired, conceiving the gumshoe Emily Lewis. Inserting bits of her personal life into the adventures, Weinraub’s years as an attorney have provided material for the detective’s attempts at helping the falsely accused.

Spanning three decades, Weinraub’s novels depict an aging Emily Lewis, showing that for Weinraub, there is no end to life’s mysteries and obstacles.

Each of Weinraub’s novels can be purchased online at sallyweinraub.com or amazon.com. Her cozy mysteries will surely be a great addition to the beach bags this summer.