From Elmont to Plum Island: Nelson DeMille’s Very Long Island Life

Nelson DeMille didn’t just set books on Long Island, he made the Island a co-star, poured coffee on the page (about 12 cups a day when he was drafting), and sharpened No. 1 pencils until the points could cut through a Plum Island conspiracy theory. He was a combat-decorated vet, a best-selling prankster with a deadpan sense of humor, and the rare airport-kiosk king who actually lived where his stories took place. Here’s the fullest, fact-stuffed, LI-centric rundown.

The Long Island Origin Story

Born Nelson Richard DeMille on August 23, 1943, in New York City; moved as a child to Elmont on Long Island and grew up there.
Attended Elmont Memorial High School, where he played football and ran track.
There is a DEMILLE AVENUE in Elmont, named after his father, Huron DeMille, a builder who helped develop the community.
After three years at Hofstra University, he joined the U.S. Army via Officer Candidate School; later returned to Hofstra to complete a degree in political science and history.
Longtime resident of Garden City, New York.

Soldier First, Then Storyteller

U.S. Army First Lieutenant (1966–1969), infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam.
Decorations: the Air Medal, Bronze Star, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
His Vietnam experience directly informed novels like Word of Honor (1985) and Up Country (2002), and he revisited the war’s legacy across decades.

Pen Names, Clubs, and Credentials

Wrote under multiple pen names: Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, Brad Matthews, and Ellen Kay.
Member of American Mensa, the Authors Guild, and the International Thriller Writers; served as president of Mystery Writers of America.
Honored as ITW’s ThrillerMaster of the Year in 2015.
Three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters (Hofstra University), Doctor of Literature (Long Island University), and Doctor of Humane Letters (Dowling College).

How He Wrote (and Why It Shows on the Page)

Wrote longhand on yellow legal pads with a No. 1 pencil; a research-heavy process that took about 16 months per book.
Voice trademarks: first-person narration, linear plots, sarcasm, and dry humor.
Preferred endings that avoid neat bows; heroes often solve the mystery but pay a personal or professional price.

The Long Island Canon including Plum Island

LI isn’t backdrop, it’s DNA. Major Long Island works include:
- The Gold Coast (1990) and its sequel The Gate House (2008).
- Plum Island (1997) – the launch of John Corey.
- Night Fall (2004), Radiant Angel (2015).
- The Maze (2022) – a gritty John Corey novel loosely echoing the Gilgo Beach case and Suffolk corruption.

Series and Key Characters (aka The DeMille Universe)

John Corey series:
Plum Island (1997), The Lion’s Game (2000), Night Fall (2004), Wild Fire (2006), The Lion (2010), The Panther (2012), Radiant Angel (2015), The Maze (2022).
- John Corey: ex-NYPD homicide detective (medically retired after three gunshot wounds), then Anti-Terrorist Task Force.
- Kate Mayfield: FBI special agent, later Corey’s wife.
- Asad Khalil: Libyan terrorist nemesis.
- Ted Nash: CIA foil turned recurring headache.
Paul Brenner series:
The General’s Daughter (1992), Up Country (2002), with Brenner teaming up with Corey in The Panther (2012).
John Sutter (Gold Coast) duo:
The Gold Coast (1990), The Gate House (2008); characters include John and Susan Sutter and Felix Mancuso.
Joe Ryker (early NYPD novels under Jack Cannon):
The Sniper (1974), The Hammer of God (1974), The Agent of Death (1975), The Smack Man (1975), The Cannibal (1975), The Night of the Phoenix (1975).
Scott Brodie & Maggie Taylor (with son Alex DeMille):
The Deserter (2019), Blood Lines (2023), The Tin Men (2025).
Easter egg: Colonel Petr Burov of The Charm School may be the same shadowy “Boris” who trained Asad Khalil in The Lion’s Game and The Lion.

Stand-Alone Adventures

The Quest (1975; re-released 2013), By the Rivers of Babylon (1978), Cathedral (1981), The Talbot Odyssey (1984), Word of Honor (1985), The Charm School (1988), Spencerville (1994), Mayday (1998, co-authored with Thomas Block), The Cuban Affair (2017).

Shorts, Nonfiction, and “Other” Books (Yes, Including Sharks and Stud Farms)

Short fiction highlights: The Mystery at Thorn Mansion (1976), Life or Breath (1976), “Revenge and Rebellion” in The Plot Thickens (1997), The Book Case (2011), Death Benefits (2012), Rendezvous (2012), The Rich and the Dead (2011).
Nonfiction and “as told by” titles under pen names include:
- Hitler’s Children: The True Story of Nazi Human Stud Farms (1976) as Kurt Ladner.
- Killer Sharks: The Real Story (1977) as Brad Matthews.
- The Five-Million-Dollar Woman: Barbara Walters (1976) as Ellen Kay.
Contributed to anthologies and collections such as The Plot Thickens (1997), Getting Your Book Published for Dummies (2000), Best American Mystery Stories (2004), Dangerous Women (2005), In the Shadow of the Master (2009), The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook (2015), MatchUp (2017), plus Long Island-centric titles Long Island’s Gold Coast (2012) and OHEKA Castle (2012).

Page to Screen

The General’s Daughter (Paramount film, 1999) starring John Travolta.
Word of Honor (TNT, 2003) starring Don Johnson.
Mayday (CBS, 2005) starring Aidan Quinn.

The LI Life Between Drafts

Lived in Garden City; made regular family weekends in Manhattan with his wife Sandy and son James.
Favorite city haunts once included the 21 Club (steak tartare for the “raw meat fix”), Barneys and Saks on Saturdays, the Strand and Barnes & Noble (Upper East and Upper West), and the American Museum of Natural History (once organized a bus trip and overnight scavenger hunt for his son’s class).
Member of the Friars Club; Sunday brunches there often included friends Linda Stasi and Sid Davidoff, with DeMille telling kids the basement had “monk ghosts.”
Supported Long Island Cares, The Harry Chapin Food Bank, by allowing his art/doodle to be reproduced on “Celebrity Ceramics” fund-raising tiles.
Engaged with local readers at events large and small, from cutting the ribbon at a Riverhead Barnes & Noble in 2022 to newsmaking author conversations on Long Island.

Family, Loss, and an LI Farewell

Spouse: Sandra (Sandy) DeMille, who died in 2018.
Children: Lauren, Alexander (co-author of two novels with a third in the works), and James.
Died of esophageal cancer on September 17, 2024, at NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island in Mineola, age 81.
Obituaries noted 23 novels, 17 bestsellers, and his longhand, pencil-on-legal-pad drafting habit.
Visitation: September 21 at Fairchild Sons Funeral Home in Garden City, in “The Grand Tier” suite; his 23 books were displayed alongside his combat helmet (“steel pot”) and his First Cavalry dress uniform.
Casket: Matthews Aurora “Fredrick,” shaded poplar with ivory basketweave interior, flanked by U.S. and Army flags, beneath a poster-sized black-and-white portrait.
Funeral Mass: September 23 at the Church of St. Joseph, Garden City; homily by Monsignor James Vlaun, who warmly recounted their friendship and finally ordering Cathedral that very morning.
Recessional hymn: “On Eagle’s Wings,” followed by the Nassau County Police Emerald Society playing “Garryowen,” the 1st Cavalry Division’s famed tune; police escort provided to the cemetery.
Interment: Memorial Cemetery of St. John’s Church, Laurel Hollow, amid Olmsted-influenced grounds. He is buried with Sandy near notable Long Islanders, including Otto H. Kahn and William Robertson Coe; the site includes a bench for reflection and reading.
Community ties included Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay–East Norwich, and Mollie’s Fund.

The Quotable DeMille (Wit, War, and a Little Gunpowder)

“Any fool, including an ROTC lieutenant, can be a military genius at the breakfast table twenty years later.”
“Hope is nothing more than deferred despair.”
On the nature of war stories and memory, he could be candid, cutting, and funny, a mix that powered his characters and made his author talks feel like you were with a very sharp neighbor at a Garden City kitchen table.

Film Buff Note, LI Reader PSA, and One Last Pencil

The General’s Daughter put him on movie marquees; Word of Honor and Mayday kept his name on TV.
If you have not read The Gold Coast, start there for the pure Long Island hit. If you have, try Plum Island to meet John Corey where the quips begin.
And if you spot DEMILLE AVENUE in Elmont, consider it the prologue. The story runs through Nassau, all the way to that quiet, shaded bench in Laurel Hollow.

Complete (and Wildly Productive) Bibliography Snapshot

Series: John Corey (7+1); Paul Brenner (2 plus a team-up); John Sutter duo; Joe Ryker (6, as Jack Cannon); Scott Brodie & Maggie Taylor with Alex (The Deserter, Blood Lines, The Tin Men [2025]).
Stand-alones: The Quest (1975/2013), By the Rivers of Babylon (1978), Cathedral (1981), The Talbot Odyssey (1984), Word of Honor (1985), The Charm School (1988), Spencerville (1994), Mayday (1998), The Cuban Affair (2017).
Short works: The Mystery at Thorn Mansion (1976), Life or Breath (1976), “Revenge and Rebellion” (1997), The Rich and the Dead (2011), The Book Case (2011), Death Benefits (2012), Rendezvous (2012).
Non-/Other: Hitler’s Children (1976, as Kurt Ladner), Killer Sharks (1977, as Brad Matthews), The Five-Million-Dollar Woman: Barbara Walters (1976, as Ellen Kay); contributions to The Plot Thickens (1997), Getting Your Book Published for Dummies (2000), The Best American Mystery Stories (2004), Dangerous Women (2005), In the Shadow of the Master (2009), The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook (2015), Great Minds Think and Write (2016), The Books that Changed My Life (2016), MatchUp (2017), plus Long Island’s Gold Coast (2012) and OHEKA Castle (2012).

Call it the DeMille effect: Long Island as character, coffee as rocket fuel, and plots that leave just enough unsolved to keep you turning the page or driving out to the North Shore to see what he was talking about.

Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons