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Judith Singer #1
Compromising Positions
The brilliant debut that's sold over a million copies-now in trade paperback for the first time!
Rediscover the "wonderfully funny, deliciously mean" (New York Times) novel that launched Susan Isaacs' New York Times bestselling career-and introduced Long Island housewife Judith Singer, her most beloved character. Judith is smart and funny, with a gorgeous husband and wonderful kids. She's also incredibly bored, having put her Ph.D. plans on hold for a life of housekeeping and nose-wiping. So when a local dentist is found murdered, and the police suspect her neighbor, that's all the excuse Judith needs to jump in and begin her own investigation. It seems the deceased periodontist was quite the Don Juan of the PTA, with a habit of taking incriminating photos. In between school runs and making dinner, Judith is drawn deeper into the case-and closer to the sexy police detective in charge.
Rediscover the "wonderfully funny, deliciously mean" (New York Times) novel that launched Susan Isaacs' New York Times bestselling career-and introduced Long Island housewife Judith Singer, her most beloved character. Judith is smart and funny, with a gorgeous husband and wonderful kids. She's also incredibly bored, having put her Ph.D. plans on hold for a life of housekeeping and nose-wiping. So when a local dentist is found murdered, and the police suspect her neighbor, that's all the excuse Judith needs to jump in and begin her own investigation. It seems the deceased periodontist was quite the Don Juan of the PTA, with a habit of taking incriminating photos. In between school runs and making dinner, Judith is drawn deeper into the case-and closer to the sexy police detective in charge.
352 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1978
504 people are currently reading
962 people want to read
About the author
Susan Isaacs
66 books503 followersI was born in a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds. Oh, you want the truth. Fine. I was born in Brooklyn and educated at Queens College. After leaving school, I saw one of those ads: BE A COMPUTER PROGRAMMER! Take our aptitude test. Since I had nothing else in mind, I took the test-and flunked. The guy at the employment agency looked at my resume and mumbled, “You wrote for your college paper? Uh, we have an opening at Seventeen magazine.” That’s how I became a writer.
I liked my job, but I found doing advice to the lovelorn and articles like “How to Write a Letter to a Boy” somewhat short of fulfilling. So, first as a volunteer, then for actual money, I wrote political speeches in my spare time. I did less of that when I met a wonderful guy, Elkan Abramowitz, then a federal prosecutor in the SDNY.
We were married and a little more than a year later, we had Andrew (now a corporate lawyer). Three years later, Elizabeth (now a philosopher and writer) was born. I’d left Seventeen to be home with my kids but continued to to do speeches and the occasional magazine piece. During what free time I had, I read more mysteries than was healthy. Possibly I became deranged, but I thought, I can do this.
And that’s how Compromising Positions, a whodunit with a housewife-detectives set on Long Island came about. Talk about good luck: it was chosen the Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, auctioned for paperback, sold to the movies, translated into thirty languages, and became a bestseller. I was a little overwhelmed by the success. However, it’s hard to rise to a state of perpetual cool and go to slick downtown parties when you’re living in the suburbs with a husband, two kids, two dogs, and a mini-van, I simply wrote another book… and then another and another.
About half my works are mysteries, two fall into the category of espionage, and the rest are…well, regular novels. In the horn-tooting department, nearly all my novels have been New York Times bestsellers.
My kids grew up. My husband became a defense lawyer specializing in white collar matters: I call him my house counsel since I’m always consulting him on criminal procedure, the justice system, and law enforcement jargon. Anyway, after forty-five years of writing all sorts of novels—standalones—I decided to write a mystery series. I conceived Corie Geller with a rich enough background to avoid what I’d always been leery of—that doing a series would mean writing the same book over and over, changing only the settings.
I also produced one work of nonfiction, Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women are Really Doing on Page and Screen. I wrote a slew of articles, essays, and op-ed pieces as well. Newsday sent me to write about the 2000 presidential campaign, which was one of the greatest thrills of my life-going to both conventions, riding beside John McCain on the Straight Talk Express, interviewing George W. Bush. I also reviewed books for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Newsday. (My website has far more information about my projects than most people would want to know, but have a look.)
In the mid-1980s, I wrote the screenplay for Paramount’s Compromising Positions which starred Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. I also wrote and co-produced Touchstone’s Hello Again which starred Shelley Long, Gabriel Byrne, and Judith Ivey. (My fourth novel, Shining Through, set during World War II became the 20th Century Fox movie starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith and Liam Neeson. I would have written the script, except I wasn’t asked.)
Here’s the professional stuff. I’m a recipient of the Writers for Writers Award, the Marymount Manhattan Writing Center Award, and the John Steinbeck Award. I just retired (after over a decade) as chairman of the board of the literary organization, Poets & Writers. I also served as president of Mystery Writers of America. I belong to the National Book Critics Circle, the Creative Coalition, PEN, the Ameri
I liked my job, but I found doing advice to the lovelorn and articles like “How to Write a Letter to a Boy” somewhat short of fulfilling. So, first as a volunteer, then for actual money, I wrote political speeches in my spare time. I did less of that when I met a wonderful guy, Elkan Abramowitz, then a federal prosecutor in the SDNY.
We were married and a little more than a year later, we had Andrew (now a corporate lawyer). Three years later, Elizabeth (now a philosopher and writer) was born. I’d left Seventeen to be home with my kids but continued to to do speeches and the occasional magazine piece. During what free time I had, I read more mysteries than was healthy. Possibly I became deranged, but I thought, I can do this.
And that’s how Compromising Positions, a whodunit with a housewife-detectives set on Long Island came about. Talk about good luck: it was chosen the Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, auctioned for paperback, sold to the movies, translated into thirty languages, and became a bestseller. I was a little overwhelmed by the success. However, it’s hard to rise to a state of perpetual cool and go to slick downtown parties when you’re living in the suburbs with a husband, two kids, two dogs, and a mini-van, I simply wrote another book… and then another and another.
About half my works are mysteries, two fall into the category of espionage, and the rest are…well, regular novels. In the horn-tooting department, nearly all my novels have been New York Times bestsellers.
My kids grew up. My husband became a defense lawyer specializing in white collar matters: I call him my house counsel since I’m always consulting him on criminal procedure, the justice system, and law enforcement jargon. Anyway, after forty-five years of writing all sorts of novels—standalones—I decided to write a mystery series. I conceived Corie Geller with a rich enough background to avoid what I’d always been leery of—that doing a series would mean writing the same book over and over, changing only the settings.
I also produced one work of nonfiction, Brave Dames and Wimpettes: What Women are Really Doing on Page and Screen. I wrote a slew of articles, essays, and op-ed pieces as well. Newsday sent me to write about the 2000 presidential campaign, which was one of the greatest thrills of my life-going to both conventions, riding beside John McCain on the Straight Talk Express, interviewing George W. Bush. I also reviewed books for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Newsday. (My website has far more information about my projects than most people would want to know, but have a look.)
In the mid-1980s, I wrote the screenplay for Paramount’s Compromising Positions which starred Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. I also wrote and co-produced Touchstone’s Hello Again which starred Shelley Long, Gabriel Byrne, and Judith Ivey. (My fourth novel, Shining Through, set during World War II became the 20th Century Fox movie starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith and Liam Neeson. I would have written the script, except I wasn’t asked.)
Here’s the professional stuff. I’m a recipient of the Writers for Writers Award, the Marymount Manhattan Writing Center Award, and the John Steinbeck Award. I just retired (after over a decade) as chairman of the board of the literary organization, Poets & Writers. I also served as president of Mystery Writers of America. I belong to the National Book Critics Circle, the Creative Coalition, PEN, the Ameri
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
January 1, 2018
I saw the 1985 film version of Compromising Positions many years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed it; however, as nearly always proves true, the book is much, much better.
Judith Singer, underappreciated Long Island housewife, becomes intrigued by the murder of periodontist and lothario Dr. Bruce Fleckstein. Fleckstein had additional legal troubles that I won’t reveal, so the list of suspects — scorned lovers, cuckolded husbands, mistreated family members, even Mafiosi — is pretty long.
But it wasn’t the taut, suspenseful mystery that hooked me — although author Susan Isaacs imbues her 1978 book with an excellent plot that impelled me to devour the book in two days; what really got me was Isaacs’ sly sendup of upper-middle-class expectations, limitations and hypocrisies. That especially includes her depiction of the vaguely unsatisfactory nature of modern American life for women, whether they’re at home with the kids or out in the business world. Judith Singer trained as a history scholar, but here she is, living a life in the suburbs in which her greatest intellectual challenge is getting the steak grilled at exactly the right time. Judith finds herself playing games of what if. What if I had become a college professor? What if I had married an intellectual? What if I had remained in New York City? What if, what if ….
The 1970s saw enormous changes in what women wanted out of life and love, but, even in the 21st century, we still find ourselves compromising our true selves and playing our own games of what if. Except for Erica Jong and Julie Mulhern, no one else is even in Isaacs’ league in shining a light into women’s souls. Despite nearly 40 years, Isaacs’ musings aren’t dated, and readers will still adore Compromising Positions.
Judith Singer, underappreciated Long Island housewife, becomes intrigued by the murder of periodontist and lothario Dr. Bruce Fleckstein. Fleckstein had additional legal troubles that I won’t reveal, so the list of suspects — scorned lovers, cuckolded husbands, mistreated family members, even Mafiosi — is pretty long.
But it wasn’t the taut, suspenseful mystery that hooked me — although author Susan Isaacs imbues her 1978 book with an excellent plot that impelled me to devour the book in two days; what really got me was Isaacs’ sly sendup of upper-middle-class expectations, limitations and hypocrisies. That especially includes her depiction of the vaguely unsatisfactory nature of modern American life for women, whether they’re at home with the kids or out in the business world. Judith Singer trained as a history scholar, but here she is, living a life in the suburbs in which her greatest intellectual challenge is getting the steak grilled at exactly the right time. Judith finds herself playing games of what if. What if I had become a college professor? What if I had married an intellectual? What if I had remained in New York City? What if, what if ….
The 1970s saw enormous changes in what women wanted out of life and love, but, even in the 21st century, we still find ourselves compromising our true selves and playing our own games of what if. Except for Erica Jong and Julie Mulhern, no one else is even in Isaacs’ league in shining a light into women’s souls. Despite nearly 40 years, Isaacs’ musings aren’t dated, and readers will still adore Compromising Positions.
January 16, 2013
The first time I read this (many years ago) I loved the mystery and all the little details of a murder complicated by emotional blackmail, adultery, and organized crime. This time I was surprised to discover that my life is now very similar to Judith Singer's, and what a difference it is to have that life in 2013 rather than 1978. I keep forgetting how hard it was for many women in the '70s, trying to be defined by something other than their relationship to a man. And yet in the differences between Bob Singer and Nelson Sharpe, it's clear that not all men were sexist pigs, that not all women were dissatisfied with being housewives, but also that fighting those gender roles (both male and female) still wasn't easy. Isaacs doesn't focus too much on the details of late-1970s fashion, design, or culture, so the book remains surprisingly readable and relevant. I'm not sure how I feel about the adultery, which is an important part of the story, but in general this is a book I enjoy coming back to.
March 6, 2022
4 Stars
Borrowed from the library for a re-read.
Borrowed from the library for a re-read.
December 9, 2012
It is rare when I proclaim a film adaptation better than the original book. This is one of those occasions. The dialogue is very 1980s yuppie, East Coast- dull, soulless, and self-centered. It sets the tone aptly for the story of the murder of a wealthy (and criminal) dentist with a habit of seducing married patients. Raul Julia, one of the best actors ever, was excellent as the harried detective trying the keep Susan Sarandon's Judith out of his case. The performances in the film make the book look colorless. The only other two times I have witnessed this phenomena were "The Witches of Eastwick" and "Blade Runner". But, then again, what author can compete with a tantrumming Jack Nicholson and Ridley Scott. Impossible.
August 10, 2010
Judith Singer is a bored housewife living in a very upscale neighborhood. Her only activities are carpooling and preparing nutritious dinners for her children. When a local dentist is murdered, she jumps at the chance to investigate. Unfortunately, she is no Miss Marple. Many pages later, she has only collected three clues.
In boredom, I put down the book and didn't finish it. She and her suspects are dull as ditch water and I don't care who did it.
In boredom, I put down the book and didn't finish it. She and her suspects are dull as ditch water and I don't care who did it.
July 13, 2020
I must have been drugged when I selected this book. Somebody somewhere in the NYT book review made it sound like this was one of the best books she'd ever read. So I jotted down the title and forgot the rest. Since it was published in 1978, it was probably very clever at the time but this book did not last the test of time.
At the beginning a suburban periodontist is killed in his office. Sounds enticing, doesn't it? That night, Judith makes a steak for her husband's dinner and he wants to know why it's not ready when he walks in the door. After dinner, he says," ' I'll meet you upstairs,' he said, giving me a knowing look. ' Hurry up with the dishes.' " Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. 1978----what a difference a couple of decades make.
At the beginning a suburban periodontist is killed in his office. Sounds enticing, doesn't it? That night, Judith makes a steak for her husband's dinner and he wants to know why it's not ready when he walks in the door. After dinner, he says," ' I'll meet you upstairs,' he said, giving me a knowing look. ' Hurry up with the dishes.' " Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. 1978----what a difference a couple of decades make.
September 3, 2019
A memorable romp! Hilarious!
August 3, 2014
This was recommended by Jennifer Weiner as not to be missed, so I gave it a try. It wasn't bad, but it took me forever to make my way through it. Somehow, neither the whodunnit suspense nor the will-they-won't-they chemistry was enough to inspire me to keep reading.
July 11, 2020
This book came highly recommended by Jennifer Weiner in her By The Book column in the New York Times on May 7, for its portrayal of female friendship. For the first half I was fascinated. Judith Singer and friends on the North Shore of Long Island are the last of the restive postwar housewives, highly educated and intelligent women who today would have high-end careers but who in 1978 are still held back, barely, by convention and the abundance of their husbands’ incomes. Sharp as hell with mouths to match, Judith and her even saltier friend Nancy at first were my new retro obsession. Then in the second half of the book Judith loses me. Still a good read and a fairly interesting mystery.
May 25, 2022
I know you see this as some demented obsession of mine, some psychotic episode that's totally out of character. But look, we've been living out here for years, and I haven't been happy for a second. I know that's not fair, but ultimately it's true. I've been bored silly, floundering between the supermarket and car pools, and all of a sudden, I found something. A murder. A puzzle. It fell into my lap and all of a sudden it was something I could latch on to. Not just out of boredom. It's fascinating, trying to put the pieces together, working with the police.
July 11, 2020
A fun whodunit that I quite enjoyed. Everyone has secrets they don’t want others to know and Judith seemed to stumble over them constantly but she was likeable and I’ll be looking for the second book.
June 16, 2023
What a fun book! I can't believe it took me so long to discover this great sendup of life in the Long Island suburbs in the 1970s. A periodontist turns up dead and Judith Singer, bored stay-at-home mom, decides to figure out who did it--even though her husband tries unsuccessfully to forbid her from being involved. I loved her descriptions of the characters and their foibles.
Great beach read.
Great beach read.
September 30, 2018
a fun romp
July 19, 2019
Detective fiction got a goose in the rear when Susan Isaacs showed up - her sassy, funny heroine, Judith Singer, became the template for all of today's modern detective sleuths. A fun summer read.
August 8, 2020
I enjoyed this book as much this time reading it as I did the first time I read it when it first came out.
June 3, 2021
I first read this books ages ago, after seeing the movie version. Just happened to discover there was a sequel I never knew about, so re-read this. As I recalled, I liked the movie better. And felt the same way again. I thought the changes made were an improvement. But as a comic mystery it's perfectly fine entertainment.
August 11, 2023
I quite liked this. Judith Singer is a great character and I enjoyed the mystery.
April 29, 2018
I liked this back when I read this, which was in the 80's around the time that the Susan Sarandon film came out. I'll buck the trend a bit here and say that the book is far better than the movie (point in the movie's favor: it's well cast with Sarandon, Raul Julia, and Judith Ivey.)
The main character is a bright but bored Long Island stay-at-home housewife who investigates the seemingly random murder of a local periodontist with whom she had a passing strictly doctor/patient acquaintance, something she discovers makes her a bit of an anomaly amongst his female patients. Her investigation entertains her equally bright but bored friends and annoys her husband, particularly when it seems that she has also caught the killer's attention. It's fun and funny and snappy on the surface. If you dig a little deeper, it's also smart and inspiringly first wave feminist (the book was written in 1979.) You can finish this in a day or two and enjoy it. I meant to read more Susan Isaacs, although I never did.
The main character is a bright but bored Long Island stay-at-home housewife who investigates the seemingly random murder of a local periodontist with whom she had a passing strictly doctor/patient acquaintance, something she discovers makes her a bit of an anomaly amongst his female patients. Her investigation entertains her equally bright but bored friends and annoys her husband, particularly when it seems that she has also caught the killer's attention. It's fun and funny and snappy on the surface. If you dig a little deeper, it's also smart and inspiringly first wave feminist (the book was written in 1979.) You can finish this in a day or two and enjoy it. I meant to read more Susan Isaacs, although I never did.
August 21, 2016
Good enough read but the characters were not likable. A narcissist, a couple busy bodies, and quite a few adulterers. Don't get me wrong, I've been a gossip, and a bit bawdy in my past too. But I hope I had a lot more fun while misbehaving. These people, even in adultery, were rather bland, miserable, and unlikable. I read this two weeks ago and can't remember what happened with the main characters. I was going to go back and check, and then thought...well...who cares?
August 12, 2007
If you read this book, or even if you do not, I highly recommend the movie version starring Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. It's one of those that if I am flipping channels, if it's on, I will be late for whatever I thought I was going to do next----I HAVE to watch it!
Oh yeah, the book is fun to read, too.
Oh yeah, the book is fun to read, too.
March 12, 2022
It was okay. Some of the language and the cheating, good gravy! the cheating that goes on, and the description of bedroom scenes are not to my liking. Had I known about that before I picked up the book, I would not have read it. The mystery itself was pretty good. I just prefer to not read specifics about the sexual content.
April 30, 2008
This is another good romantic suspense from Susan Isaacs. It has drama, passion and plenty of suspense for good reading.
October 8, 2022
Crime with implausible connection
How do we jump from a narcissistic self absorbed housewife to dogged heroine? Sorry, but a rational connection is hard to make.
How do we jump from a narcissistic self absorbed housewife to dogged heroine? Sorry, but a rational connection is hard to make.
September 12, 2025
Historical fiction often suffers from the Anachronism Syndrome. The author does a lot of research and gets mos of it right in the book, but accidentally lets something slip into the texxt that doesn't belong in the time frame of the book. Like someone in a book set in 1987 says "D'oh!"
You don't get this problem with books written in the past set in their own contemporary times. They come across as dated, but it's all right because they weren't when they were first written and it's not carelessness on the author's part.
"Compromising Positions" was written in 1978 and it shows. Judith Singer is a rich, mid-thirties Jewish housewife living in Long Island with her workaholic, humorless husband Bob and their two little kids. She is well-educated and is supposed to be finishing her doctoral disseration in history, but she isn't. She is bored with her boring husband and her boring life.
So when she hears on the radio that a local periodontist named Bruce Fleckstein has been found murdered in his office, Judith becomes immediately, deeply and unhealthily interested. She saw the man professionally a grand total of once, nearly five years ago, and has no connection to him or any of his family, yet she can talk and think of nothing else, much to Bob's disgust and alarm.
The mystery itself is engaging and I enjoy Isaacs's writing style, though this being her first novel, she hadn't quite honed her technique and sometimes the dialogue was implausibly windy and witty.
And it's a clever send-up of rich suburban seventies life.
But Judith herself is not especially likable, and she's not even unlikable in a good way. She is smug and self-satisfied even as she laments her boredom and lack of outside-the-home activity. But here's the thing: nothing is actually sstopping her from being a bored Stepford wife. Bob, though he takes her very much for granted, has no problem with her going to back to school or getting a job and is prepared to hire a housekeeper.
No, Judith's only interest is in this murder. And she won't let it alone.
Bob finds her fascination morbid and uninteresting at the same time, but when someone breaks into their house and spray-paints a warning to "M.Y.O.B." on the fridge, he tries to put his foot down, demanding that Judith stop trying to investigate the murder. Judith refuses. She was startled by the vandalism, but she gets over it quickly, and brushes Bob off when he points out that they and their children may now be in danger.
In thee kind of amateur-sleuth stories, you need a suspension of disbelief if the story is going to work at all. In real life, the police would never allow an untrained, uncredentialed outsider to conduct interviews, offer theories or ride along while they execute search warrants. That's a given.
So it's not surprising in the context of the book that Judith does or tries to do all these things. Nor is it out of place that she also has a hot affair with the lead homicide detectiv, Nelson Sharpe.
But her character development? Something's just off. She seems both very smart, coming up with deductions that turn out to be dead-on right, and also stupid. She has empathy at times, but at others seems not to grasp the seriousness of the situation. In the very beginning, when Bob asks why she's so interested in the sordid details of Fleckstein's life (and they are very sordid indeed) and his brutal death she says that the sordidness "is what makes it fun."
We are supposed to feel sorry for Judith, I think, stifled in suburbia and having to do her husband's laundry and cook his dinner and raise the kids.
But as I said, she isn't actually trapped. And she has no problem dumping the kids off at her friends' houses or stuffing them in bed or sending them to watch TV so she can chase down leads and play Nancy Drew.
We're supposed to not like Bob for objecting to tall this, and he can be a jerk; also, according to Judith, he didn't always used to be such a dull prig of a man. But as Judith continues to put herself at risk, and especially when she starts having her affair, we can't help but think "Poor Bob." I don't think he was unreasonable in his demands that Judith stop her obsession.
But if you read this just for the mystery, and the sly puncturing of the NY upper-crust, I think the book still has merit. And the author definitely did improve her craft in subsequent books.
You don't get this problem with books written in the past set in their own contemporary times. They come across as dated, but it's all right because they weren't when they were first written and it's not carelessness on the author's part.
"Compromising Positions" was written in 1978 and it shows. Judith Singer is a rich, mid-thirties Jewish housewife living in Long Island with her workaholic, humorless husband Bob and their two little kids. She is well-educated and is supposed to be finishing her doctoral disseration in history, but she isn't. She is bored with her boring husband and her boring life.
So when she hears on the radio that a local periodontist named Bruce Fleckstein has been found murdered in his office, Judith becomes immediately, deeply and unhealthily interested. She saw the man professionally a grand total of once, nearly five years ago, and has no connection to him or any of his family, yet she can talk and think of nothing else, much to Bob's disgust and alarm.
The mystery itself is engaging and I enjoy Isaacs's writing style, though this being her first novel, she hadn't quite honed her technique and sometimes the dialogue was implausibly windy and witty.
And it's a clever send-up of rich suburban seventies life.
But Judith herself is not especially likable, and she's not even unlikable in a good way. She is smug and self-satisfied even as she laments her boredom and lack of outside-the-home activity. But here's the thing: nothing is actually sstopping her from being a bored Stepford wife. Bob, though he takes her very much for granted, has no problem with her going to back to school or getting a job and is prepared to hire a housekeeper.
No, Judith's only interest is in this murder. And she won't let it alone.
Bob finds her fascination morbid and uninteresting at the same time, but when someone breaks into their house and spray-paints a warning to "M.Y.O.B." on the fridge, he tries to put his foot down, demanding that Judith stop trying to investigate the murder. Judith refuses. She was startled by the vandalism, but she gets over it quickly, and brushes Bob off when he points out that they and their children may now be in danger.
In thee kind of amateur-sleuth stories, you need a suspension of disbelief if the story is going to work at all. In real life, the police would never allow an untrained, uncredentialed outsider to conduct interviews, offer theories or ride along while they execute search warrants. That's a given.
So it's not surprising in the context of the book that Judith does or tries to do all these things. Nor is it out of place that she also has a hot affair with the lead homicide detectiv, Nelson Sharpe.
But her character development? Something's just off. She seems both very smart, coming up with deductions that turn out to be dead-on right, and also stupid. She has empathy at times, but at others seems not to grasp the seriousness of the situation. In the very beginning, when Bob asks why she's so interested in the sordid details of Fleckstein's life (and they are very sordid indeed) and his brutal death she says that the sordidness "is what makes it fun."
We are supposed to feel sorry for Judith, I think, stifled in suburbia and having to do her husband's laundry and cook his dinner and raise the kids.
But as I said, she isn't actually trapped. And she has no problem dumping the kids off at her friends' houses or stuffing them in bed or sending them to watch TV so she can chase down leads and play Nancy Drew.
We're supposed to not like Bob for objecting to tall this, and he can be a jerk; also, according to Judith, he didn't always used to be such a dull prig of a man. But as Judith continues to put herself at risk, and especially when she starts having her affair, we can't help but think "Poor Bob." I don't think he was unreasonable in his demands that Judith stop her obsession.
But if you read this just for the mystery, and the sly puncturing of the NY upper-crust, I think the book still has merit. And the author definitely did improve her craft in subsequent books.
May 24, 2024
-Bob Singer. Advertising executive. A star in his family business, though he was initially reluctant to join the New York City firm. Just under 40 years old and moved several years earlier from NYC to Long Island. Likes routine and doesn’t like to deviate. Expects his wife to take care of the kids, keep the house clean and have his dinner ready when he gets home.
-Judith Singer. Early 30s and married to Bob. Majored in history but never completed her Masters. Very intelligent. Loves her two kids, a 6 year old daughter, Kate, and a 4 year old son, Joey. Bored, but keeping busy by talking to the neighbors, and especially her closest friend, Nancy.
-Dr. Bruce Fleckstein. Dentist living in the area and taking care of many of the local people. Found dead in his office with death caused by a slender rod jammed to the back of his skull.
-We come across Judith living in Long Island and keeping herself busy by gossiping with neighbors. Suddenly, the town has a mysterious murder that occurred to one of its residents, Dr. Fleckstein. He has charm and is known, through the grapevine, to have slept with certain married women of the area. The police seem to have no leads but start examining the patients as potential murder suspects, including Judith’s next door neighbor, Marilyn Tuccio, who, Judith knows, wouldn’t even be in the running as the last person possible to have killed the dentist.
-The police begin questioning all past patients of the dentist, and Judith, who had seen that dentist when she was pregnant with her son, Joey, is among them. The lack of direction of the police, and Judith’s inquisitive nature, combine, and she starts to involve herself in the investigation.
-Judith, who is a master of sarcasm in this very funny ‘whodunnit’, takes us on a joyride as she does her own investigation into the murder. She gets so far ahead of the police, that she becomes a target of the killer. Her house is broken into and a warning is left there for her to stop. The police, frustrated at their own lack of success in solving this case, as well as their inability to stop Judith from getting deeper into the investigation, realize that to solve this murder, they must include her.
-The more Judith discovers in her own unusual style, the more women are found to have slept with Fleckstein, which increases the number of people (the women or their husbands) who could be a murder suspect. What now complicates things, is Bob Singer totally disapproving of Judith’s involvement in this case, which she ignores, as well as the mutual attraction which grows, between her and the police office in charge of the crime. Her attraction is made all the harder for her to resist, once she discovers how many of her friends have “extracurricular activities” in their own marriages which makes one who’s in a loyal marriage feel very odd.
-Through a very easy going writing style, the author has penned a mystery that is both funny and filled with a deep sense of danger at the same time. As she proceeds from one possible suspect to another, she very smoothly questions each one, and comes up with discoveries that make the police feel like fools. Her side comments make this book a must read and they amuse the reader on almost every page. Admittedly, though this is the first novel in the series, I had read the third first, but nothing was lost by my reading in the order that I had. The plot is very well thought out, and has many twists and turns, with the solution to the mystery made apparent only at the very end.
-Judith Singer. Early 30s and married to Bob. Majored in history but never completed her Masters. Very intelligent. Loves her two kids, a 6 year old daughter, Kate, and a 4 year old son, Joey. Bored, but keeping busy by talking to the neighbors, and especially her closest friend, Nancy.
-Dr. Bruce Fleckstein. Dentist living in the area and taking care of many of the local people. Found dead in his office with death caused by a slender rod jammed to the back of his skull.
-We come across Judith living in Long Island and keeping herself busy by gossiping with neighbors. Suddenly, the town has a mysterious murder that occurred to one of its residents, Dr. Fleckstein. He has charm and is known, through the grapevine, to have slept with certain married women of the area. The police seem to have no leads but start examining the patients as potential murder suspects, including Judith’s next door neighbor, Marilyn Tuccio, who, Judith knows, wouldn’t even be in the running as the last person possible to have killed the dentist.
-The police begin questioning all past patients of the dentist, and Judith, who had seen that dentist when she was pregnant with her son, Joey, is among them. The lack of direction of the police, and Judith’s inquisitive nature, combine, and she starts to involve herself in the investigation.
-Judith, who is a master of sarcasm in this very funny ‘whodunnit’, takes us on a joyride as she does her own investigation into the murder. She gets so far ahead of the police, that she becomes a target of the killer. Her house is broken into and a warning is left there for her to stop. The police, frustrated at their own lack of success in solving this case, as well as their inability to stop Judith from getting deeper into the investigation, realize that to solve this murder, they must include her.
-The more Judith discovers in her own unusual style, the more women are found to have slept with Fleckstein, which increases the number of people (the women or their husbands) who could be a murder suspect. What now complicates things, is Bob Singer totally disapproving of Judith’s involvement in this case, which she ignores, as well as the mutual attraction which grows, between her and the police office in charge of the crime. Her attraction is made all the harder for her to resist, once she discovers how many of her friends have “extracurricular activities” in their own marriages which makes one who’s in a loyal marriage feel very odd.
-Through a very easy going writing style, the author has penned a mystery that is both funny and filled with a deep sense of danger at the same time. As she proceeds from one possible suspect to another, she very smoothly questions each one, and comes up with discoveries that make the police feel like fools. Her side comments make this book a must read and they amuse the reader on almost every page. Admittedly, though this is the first novel in the series, I had read the third first, but nothing was lost by my reading in the order that I had. The plot is very well thought out, and has many twists and turns, with the solution to the mystery made apparent only at the very end.
January 8, 2025
I read this beautifully written murder mystery, the author’s very first attempt at fiction, when it first came out and I loved it. Likewise the dozen or so of her subsequent novels that I’ve read since. Judith Singer (never :Judy”) is a highly educated Jewish resident of Shorehaven, on the upscale north shore of Long Island. Now in her -mid-thirties, she had only to finish her dissertation a decade ago to earn a Ph.D. in American Political History, at NYU but she gave that up for marriage to Bob, who was doing a doctorate in comparative lit. But he joined his family’s PR firm instead and turned out to have a knack for it, but Judith has been frequently unhappy ever since, sand frequently bored.
Then wealthy society dentist Bruce Fleckstein is found murdered and lying on his office floor. Judith’s next-door neighbor was his last patient less than an hour before, and Judith is galvanized. Her intense, puzzle-solving curiosity cranks up and she just has to be part of the case. So she begins asking questions of all her friends who knew the victim. Judith is very good at this sort of thing, very astute at reading people and at hearing the things they don’t say out loud, and it doesn’t take her long to start figuring things out -- such as the fact that Dr. Bruce was a very successful seducer of a large number of local ladies, all of whom had motives to kill him (not to mention any of their husbands who found out about their affairs).
What’s more, when the homicide detective in charge of the case gets win of her meddling in his investigation, and he shows up to interview her, sparks unexpectedly fly. Judith’s relationship with her husband, sexual and otherwise, has become pretty pro forma, but she takes her vows seriously and has always faithful, . . . but this temptation may be more than she can handle.
Isaacs is masterful at both Judith’s internal thoughts and her scintillating and frequently snarky conversations with her women friends, especially her best friend, a snarky journalist her age, who gives as good as she gets. Which is why they’re such close friends: Few others can hold their own against either of them.
Note that what the arrogantly superior way her otherwise loving husband treats -- especially when he discovers she’s “interfering in something she couldn't possibly understand”-- would e intolerable to nearly all educated women today, but Judith puts up with it, because not to would be regarded as “unnatural.” Being a housewife was still regarded by many women as their sex’s highest calling -- their “duty,” in fact. The “women’ libbers” whom many of many of the well-off female residents of Shorehaven hold in such scorn were just beginning to gain real traction, even among New York liberals. And that was one of the points the socially very aware Isaacs wanted to make.
Then wealthy society dentist Bruce Fleckstein is found murdered and lying on his office floor. Judith’s next-door neighbor was his last patient less than an hour before, and Judith is galvanized. Her intense, puzzle-solving curiosity cranks up and she just has to be part of the case. So she begins asking questions of all her friends who knew the victim. Judith is very good at this sort of thing, very astute at reading people and at hearing the things they don’t say out loud, and it doesn’t take her long to start figuring things out -- such as the fact that Dr. Bruce was a very successful seducer of a large number of local ladies, all of whom had motives to kill him (not to mention any of their husbands who found out about their affairs).
What’s more, when the homicide detective in charge of the case gets win of her meddling in his investigation, and he shows up to interview her, sparks unexpectedly fly. Judith’s relationship with her husband, sexual and otherwise, has become pretty pro forma, but she takes her vows seriously and has always faithful, . . . but this temptation may be more than she can handle.
Isaacs is masterful at both Judith’s internal thoughts and her scintillating and frequently snarky conversations with her women friends, especially her best friend, a snarky journalist her age, who gives as good as she gets. Which is why they’re such close friends: Few others can hold their own against either of them.
Note that what the arrogantly superior way her otherwise loving husband treats -- especially when he discovers she’s “interfering in something she couldn't possibly understand”-- would e intolerable to nearly all educated women today, but Judith puts up with it, because not to would be regarded as “unnatural.” Being a housewife was still regarded by many women as their sex’s highest calling -- their “duty,” in fact. The “women’ libbers” whom many of many of the well-off female residents of Shorehaven hold in such scorn were just beginning to gain real traction, even among New York liberals. And that was one of the points the socially very aware Isaacs wanted to make.
December 26, 2019
Just re-read this today and not surprisingly, it’s a let down. I rarely give book reviews aside from the actual “stars” but can’t help myself with this one.
First off, the “mystery” is not a mystery at all—an average mystery reader can tell who killed the dentist after the first few chapters. Second, given my dislike of adultery and anything which celebrates it, I already disliked the two main characters. But, aside from that, the relationship between Sharpe and Judith felt too contrived. I mean, fine, people have affairs and such—but for a lieutenant to open up the whole case to a civilian just because he was attracted to her and she was too obsessed with the case and also had “better” deductive skills? Not likely. Third, aside from perfectly constructing a*sh*le, sniveling men, adulterous suburban men and women, policemen who can’t think beyond their zippers (which I’m pretty sure they’re not all like that), the characters lacked depth. Sure, the women in this story seems to be progressive and all that stuff (especially in relation to when this was written) but I’ve read plenty of old novels which had more substance.
I’m sure I liked this book fifteen years ago for a reason, when I was a teenager, but re-reading it as an adult, I don’t remember why. I don’t even know why I suddenly had the urge to re-read it.
Anyway, the sarcastic dialogues did have their charm. Hence the two stars. But will I read it again or Ms. Isaacs’ other novels? Not likely.
First off, the “mystery” is not a mystery at all—an average mystery reader can tell who killed the dentist after the first few chapters. Second, given my dislike of adultery and anything which celebrates it, I already disliked the two main characters. But, aside from that, the relationship between Sharpe and Judith felt too contrived. I mean, fine, people have affairs and such—but for a lieutenant to open up the whole case to a civilian just because he was attracted to her and she was too obsessed with the case and also had “better” deductive skills? Not likely. Third, aside from perfectly constructing a*sh*le, sniveling men, adulterous suburban men and women, policemen who can’t think beyond their zippers (which I’m pretty sure they’re not all like that), the characters lacked depth. Sure, the women in this story seems to be progressive and all that stuff (especially in relation to when this was written) but I’ve read plenty of old novels which had more substance.
I’m sure I liked this book fifteen years ago for a reason, when I was a teenager, but re-reading it as an adult, I don’t remember why. I don’t even know why I suddenly had the urge to re-read it.
Anyway, the sarcastic dialogues did have their charm. Hence the two stars. But will I read it again or Ms. Isaacs’ other novels? Not likely.
September 11, 2023
Compromising Positions Susan Isaacs 1978
I love Susan Isaacs’ mysteries. Recently, I realized I had never read her debut novel, Compromising Positions. (I gave it five stars.)
In retrospect, Compromising Positions was one of the first mystery/romance novels to feature steamy sex. (Although not as graphic as today’s market demands.)
Long Island housewife Judith singer is bored. Judith snaps out of her lethargy when she learns that the town dentist, Bruce Fleckstein, has been murdered. Her friends tell her that Dentist Flecsktein had been “drilling” everyone but her and – “Lordy, Lordy” – taking graphic photographs which he sold to a Mafia-funded porn ring. Judith investigates, thus alienating her shallow husband, attracting the attention of the murderer, and catching the eye of the good-looking chief investigator, Nelson Sharpe. Will Judith identify the murderer? Will she sleep with Lieutenant Sharpe? Yes, and yes.
What keeps Compromising Positions from being a cliché is Susan Isaacs’ fantastic sense of humor.
I love Susan Isaacs’ mysteries. Recently, I realized I had never read her debut novel, Compromising Positions. (I gave it five stars.)
In retrospect, Compromising Positions was one of the first mystery/romance novels to feature steamy sex. (Although not as graphic as today’s market demands.)
Long Island housewife Judith singer is bored. Judith snaps out of her lethargy when she learns that the town dentist, Bruce Fleckstein, has been murdered. Her friends tell her that Dentist Flecsktein had been “drilling” everyone but her and – “Lordy, Lordy” – taking graphic photographs which he sold to a Mafia-funded porn ring. Judith investigates, thus alienating her shallow husband, attracting the attention of the murderer, and catching the eye of the good-looking chief investigator, Nelson Sharpe. Will Judith identify the murderer? Will she sleep with Lieutenant Sharpe? Yes, and yes.
What keeps Compromising Positions from being a cliché is Susan Isaacs’ fantastic sense of humor.
September 14, 2023
I first read this many, many years ago, and haven't reread it since. I liked some things about it a lot. There is just something in Isaacs' writing voice that appeals to me on a visceral level (the deadpan humour, the way things are described, and her characterisation), and this made it extremely readable. I also liked Judith a lot, and found the mystery interesting. But man, is this depressing! I am so heartbroken for these brilliant, intelligent women, so clearly capable of great things, but stuck in a life that bores them to tears. I was particularly disappointed by the ending. .
June 14, 2025
This was a book club read for me. Apparently I've read Isaacs before, Takes One to Know One -- unfortunately I don't remember reading it but looking at the blurb it looks like one I'd enjoy as a re-read. But as to Compromising Positions, I'm on the fence about it. Parts of it were really good -- I liked Judith a LOT as a character and sleuth. She's smart, spunky and doesn't do the dumb things a lot of cozy mystery heroines do. I wouldn't call this one a cozy -- but not your thriller mystery either. Judith's husband, Bob, is such a throwback even for 1978 when it came out. Every scene he was in reminded me of nails on a blackboard. At the same time I was turned off by her relationship with Nelson. Overall, good mystery and except for the final outcome between Judith and Nelson a satisfying mystery.
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