Nelson DeMille (1943-2024), Best Selling Author of the ’80s and ’90s

Nelson DeMille, who died on September 17, 2024 at the age of 81, was one of the leading best-selling authors from the 1980s into the 21st Century. Among his novels are The General’s Daughter, the Gold Coast, Plum Island and Word of Honor. Three of his novels were turned into films. On June 13, 1997, Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky interviewed Nelson DeMille while he was on tour for Plum Island. In the discussion, we focused on that book, as well as several others.  This is the first of two interviews with Nelson DeMille.

Nelson DeMille would return to the character of Paul Brenner from The General’s Daughter in Up Country in 2002, he would return to John Corey from Plum Island in The Lions Game in 2000, and in seven other novels. In all, there would be 27 novels, plus two written in collaboration with his son, Alex DeMille, two early novels written under a pseudonym plus several works of short fiction. Three of his books, most notably The General’s Daughter, became films.

This interview was digitized, remastered and edited by Richard Wolinsky in November 2024. Echo and other faults exist on the original recording.