Michael Malone

Michael Christopher Malone (November 22, 1942 – August 19, 2022) was an American author and television writer. He was noted for his work on the ABC Daytime drama One Life to Live, as well as for his novels Handling Sin, Foolscap (1991), and the murder mystery First Lady (2002).

Early life Malone was born in Durham, North Carolina, on November 22, 1942. His father worked as a psychiatrist; his mother was a teacher who was deaf. He lived with his mother after his parents divorced.

Career Malone's first novel, Painting the Roses Red, was inspired in part by his new wife and released in 1975. He recounted that he had authored the book in order to put off writing his doctoral thesis. Entertainment Weekly wrote that OLTL was "airing some of the most literate drama ever to hit daytime – too good to be called 'soap opera.'"

One Life to Live was averaging 5 million viewers when Malone left in 1996. His next soap opera writing job was with Another World in 1997. He returned to write One Life to Live from 2003 to 2004. While writing One Life to Live, Malone wrote a novel called The Killing Club, which was tied into the show. To explain this, Marcie said she took the book to "Professor Malone" at Llanview University, who helped her re-write it. After Malone's departure from the show, Dena Higley continued this storyline, as a copycat killer murdered characters on the show exactly as had occurred in the book. In its first week of publication The Killing Club went to No. 16 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Hardback Fiction. It later rose to No. 11.

Personal life Malone was married to Maureen Quilligan, a professor of English at Duke University, for 47 years until his death. They met while he was studying at Harvard. Together, they had one child (Maggie). They resided in Hillsborough, North Carolina, from 2000, while maintaining a second home in Connecticut.

Malone died on August 19, 2022, at his home in Clinton, Connecticut.

Publications Books (1975) Painting the Roses Red. New York: Random House. (1976) The Delectable Mountains: Or, Entertaining Strangers. Sourcebooks Landmark. (1980) Dingley Falls. Sourcebooks Landmark. (1983) Handling Sin. Sourcebooks Landmark. (1983) Uncivil Seasons. Sourcebooks Landmark. (1989) Time's Witness. Sourcebooks Landmark. (1991) Foolscap: Or, the Stages of Love. Sourcebooks Landmark. (2001) First Lady. Sourcebooks Landmark. (2002) Red Clay, Blue Cadillac: Stories of Twelve Southern Women. Sourcebooks Landmark. (2002) The Last Noel. Sourcebooks Landmark. (2005) The Killing Club. Hyperion. (co-credited with Marcie Walsh, based on a story by Josh Griffith) (2009) "The Four Corners Of The Sky" Sourcebooks Landmark

Short stories "Red Clay" (can be found in Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, published by Houghton Mifflin) (Recipient of the 1997 Edgar Award for Best Short Story) "Blue Cadillac" "Murdered for Love"

Awards Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Daytime Serials (1992) – One Life to Live Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team (1994) – One Life to Live