Miriam Klein graduated from Barnard College in 1936 and worked for the Works Progress Administration during the Depression.

Klein's first mystery, "Corpse in Diplomacy," was published in 1949, and her most recent, "No Duress," came out in 1991. She completed her last, yet unpublished, by dictating the conclusion to a daughter from her hospital bed.

She is survived by her husband, Milton; three daughters, Elizabeth Hersh, of Washington; Emily Abel, of Santa Monica, Calif., and Margaret Nelson of Middlebury, Vt.; two sons, James, of Takoma Park, Md., and Thomas, of New York; a sister, Joan Aron, of Washington, and 12 grandchildren.