October 15, 2003
Sun Sentinel

By Oline H. Cogdill

Margery Flax, a New York City office manager, has become immortal. Or at least her name has. In a new mystery series by South Florida author Elaine Viets, "Margery Flax" is a 76-year-old eccentric landlady who has a penchant for purple. Flax, 52, couldn't be happier that her name is being taken in vain. She planned it that way.

Flax got into a bidding war during a national mystery writers' conference to have her name used in a Viets novel.

"I love the character," said Flax. "She has an attitude about life that I really like, and is independent. She speaks her own mind and makes her own choices. She's what I hope to be when I am that age."

Flax had only one request about her namesake -- that she love purple. "Other than that, I wanted the character to be what the author wanted it to be."

Auctioning off character names for charity has long been a fund- raising staple of genre writers' conferences. Winners pay to have their name -- or that of a friend, relative or even a pet -- used in an upcoming book. The named character may make a one-time cameo or, as in Flax's case, may become a series regular.

Now South Florida authors will be donating the name of a character as a thank-you gift for special donations to public radio and television station WXEL-Ch. 42 [and FM 90.7] during the station's fall membership drive Oct. 18-31. South Florida authors who will be donating character names include James Patterson, James W. Hall, Barbara Parker, James Grippando, Viets and Jonathon King. Carl Hiaasen is offering lunch with the author in Islamorada in a package that includes a two-night stay at Cheeca Lodge. Tampa author Tim Dorsey will be donating annotated, autographed manuscript pages of his upcoming Cadillac Beach, which is set in Miami Beach. Station officials won't say yet how high a donation to WXEL should be to get a name in a novel, but this may open a new chapter on fund-raising for the channel.