Sidney Sheldon Books In Order

Publication Order of Tracy Whitney Books

Publication Order of Midnight Books

Publication Order of The Blackwell Family Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Plays

About Sidney Sheldon:

Sidney Sheldon is a household name among avid readers of thrillers and crime fiction. His works are prized for their excellence and uniqueness. He continues to be accorded literary honor even posthumously. That which is of great quality speaks for itself and this is the level in which Sheldon’s stories can be categorized. His works consist of novels written by himself and some extrapolated by other authors as well as television and film adaptations of his novels. Such talent and creativity earned him a number of awards cutting across the literature and filming worlds. He is considered the seventh best fiction writer of all time.

Life and times of Sidney Sheldon

Born as Sidney Schechtel on the 11th of February 1917 in Chicago, Illinois USA, Sheldon lived to be eighty nine and passed on while in California in January 2007. Writing was so natural to him that at the age of ten he was able to write a poem which sold for $5. As the Depression hit America while Sheldon was growing up, he found himself a number of jobs to generate income. He attended East High School in Denver and later on proceeded to Northwestern University. While there, he made more earnings for himself by providing drama groups with short plays.

Hoping to make something out of his writing talent, Sheldon left for Hollywood at the age of seventeen. His efforts deemed almost futile but he managed to get a job proofreading material intended for film production. This would earn him $22 a week. He would also write his own screenplays at night. In 1941, he was lucky enough to sell ‘South of the Panama’ for $250. Mr Sheldon also got to serve as a pilot with the Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1945, he got married to his first wife, Jane Harding. They parted ways in 1948 after realizing their marriage was a mistake. In 1951 he got married to Jorja Curtright with whom he had a daughter, Mary Sheldon who also became a novelist. Their thirty years of marriage ended when his wife died in 1985 following a heart attack. In 1989 he married Alexandra Kostoff. Sheldon was a hero in his own right having overcome bipolar disorder and surviving a contemplated suicide at age seventeen. For the greater part of his life, he resided in Palm Springs, California. Following complications of pneumonia he passed on at Eisenhower Medical center. Still, the legend of Sidney Sheldon lives on.

The literary works of Mr Sheldon

Sheldon had a stint at Hollywood prior to his short-lived career in the army. His unit got disbanded before he could gain any experience and he relocated to New York City. He continued writing screenplays providing such content for Paramount pictures and MGM. At the same time he also wrote musicals for Broadway. He established himself as an outstanding writer, catching the eye of Hollywood. Soon after, he left for another chance in Hollywood. His prowess was manifested in Broadway when he participated in writing ‘Jackpot’, ‘Dream with Music’ and ‘Redhead’ which earned a Tony Award.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer was his first screenplay during his second time in Hollywood. This piece of work earned him an Academy award in 1947. He was also part of writing musical films;Easter Parade and Annie Get Your Gun that featured Irving Berlin’s songs in 1948 and 1950. At the dawn of the sixties, television’s popularity increased at the expense of the film industry. Sidney Sheldon then decided to change focus reckoning that TV had more money to it. His first TV series was The Patty Duke Show that run for a span of seven years. While on this, he also wrote five seasons of I Dream of Jeannie and seventeen episodes of another series, Nancy.

In 1969, Sheldon decided to give novel-writing a try. This was the beginning of a series of timeless literary collections which he wrote by dictating to his secretary every morning while he managed his television work in the afternoons. His first novel, The Naked Face earned him an Edgar Allan-Poe Award. The ensuing years saw him produce a number of best-sellers some of which have been turned into movies. They include among others the following;-

The Other Side of Midnight
A Stranger in the Mirror
Rage of the Angels
If Tomorrow Comes
Memories of Midnight
Nothing Lasts Forever
Morning, Noon and Night
Tell Me Your Dreams
The Sky is Falling

The Other Side of Midnight made it to the number one spot in the New York Times Bestsellers list. The greatness of this novel saw it being adapted into an English film by the same name and a Hindi version by the name Oh Bewafa. This thriller captures the life of two women,Catherine Alexander and Noelle Page. Both are well endowed with beauty, Catherine born in America and Noelle born in France.Noelle falls for an American Pilot, Larry, who promises to marry her but does not. This leaves her bitter and with a resolve to avenge in future. Using her beauty she works her way up the social ladder having relationships with wealthy men. On the other end, Catherine ends up marrying Larry and Noelle eventually finds out. The story unfolds as Noelle, thanks to her influential wealth manipulates situations to draw Larry to himself. When he finally discovers who Noelle is, Larry begins an affair with her. Together they plot to kill Catherine where several attempts end with Catherine apparently drowning. The two are charged for this crime as murder; Larry is sent to prison while Noelle’s passport is seized and she is confined with one of her lovers. The story ends with the discovery that Catherine never died, she survived but however lost her memory. Sidney Sheldon weaves passionate romance, revenge and the quest for self-assertion beautifully in this story.

In Tell me your dreams, Sidney Sheldon presents his readers with the life of Ashley Patterson an introvert and her co-workers Toni Prescott who is quite outgoing and Alette Peters the shy one. A series of murders with similar patterns leads to an investigation that identifies Ashley as a suspect. She is alleged to have multiple personality disorder and in actual sense the other two co-workers are still Ashely. The story unfolds with Ashley’s alter egos manifesting their greatly varied characters in a mind-boggling twist of events.

One Response to “Sidney Sheldon”

1. Winta Estifanos: 3 years ago

   Thank you so much for the detailed information

   Reply