“Judith Krantz, who almost single-handedly turned the sex-and-shopping genre of fiction into the stuff of high commerce, making her one of the world’s best-selling novelists if not one of the most critically acclaimed, died on Saturday at her home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles,” reports The New York Times. Krantz was 91

“Though she did not publish her first book until she was 50, Ms. Krantz reigned for decades afterward as the international queen of poolside reading,” The Times reports. “Her 10 novels — beginning with “Scruples” in 1978 and ending with “The Jewels of Tessa Kent” in 1998 — have together sold more than 85 million copies in more than 50 languages.

“Most became television movies or miniseries, many of which were produced by Ms. Krantz’s husband, Steve Krantz.”

Among the TV movies and miniseries based on Krantz’s novels are “Scruples” (1980), “Princess Daisy” (1983), “Mistral’s Daughter” (1984), “I’ll Take Manhattan” (1987), “Till We Meet Again” (1989), “Secrets” (1992), “Torch Song” (1993) and “Dazzle” (1995).

Prior to becoming a novelist Krantz was a journalist for various magazines, including Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan, The Times notes.