# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/zelda-popkin
# Generated: 2026-08-14T12:04:25.440Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/zelda-popkin"
name: "Zelda Popkin"
slug: "zelda-popkin"
description: "Zelda Popkin was an American novelist best known for her contributions to mid-twentieth-century detective fiction and her later works exploring Jewish identity and family life. Over a career spanning four decades, she wrote fourteen books, including seven mystery novels and several works of general fiction. She gained early recognition for creating Mary Carner, a department-store detective who debuted in Death Wears a White Gardenia (1938) and is regarded by scholars as one of the first professionally competent female sleuths to appear in American popular fiction. Popkin's mysteries were noted for their clear prose, believable characters, and depictions of women's workplace networks, while her later novels, such as Small Victory (1947) and A Death of Innocence (1971), shifted toward psychological and social themes. Her work has since drawn renewed attention from literary critics for its portrayal of women's autonomy and its engagement with Jewish American experiences."
tagline: "American novel and mystery author (1898-1983)"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1898-07-05"
deathDate: "1983-05-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           36.61
  momentum:             0
  historical:           6.336573333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     44.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691284/"
    handle:    "nm0691284"
sources:
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%96%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%9F"
    title: "זלדה פופקין"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Popkin"
    title: "Zelda Popkin"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Popkin"
    title: "Zelda Popkin"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%86"
    title: "زيلدا بوبكين"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%86"
    title: "زيلدا بوبكين"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Popkin"
    title: "Zelda Popkin"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q187331"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2004868"
    title: "Zelda Popkin"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump