Best-selling American novelist, playwright and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon has died aged 89, leaving a string of bestselling novels behind him. But should he be remembered as a literary master or an author of little more than pulp fiction? Sheldon once declared that despite winning awards for scriptwriting, it was in writing novels that he had the most fun: his signature format was gutsy yet feminine women fighting for survival in a world of malevolent men.
Sheldon's novels - the first of which, The Naked Face, sold 21,000 copies in hardcover and 3.1m in paperback - were mauled by highbrow critics but bobbed along the bestseller lists regardless. Book bloggers today have been almost unanimous in their praise of his works, which included Rage of Angels and If Tomorrow Comes, describing them as carefully plotted and full of suspense and arguing that he provided a priceless contribution to the world of novels.
Sheldon has certainly gained the admiration of Old Fart, who believes his novels are "absolutely perfect, glamorous-but-trashy, leave-your-brains-at-the-door holiday reads", but even she admits that his quality deteriorated in later years.
