The CUPPI

by Sandy Johnson

For the New York Police Dept. the dead girl is part of an epidemic of children turned prostitutes. In police talk, her death is a "CUPPI" CIRCUMSTANCES UNDETERMINED PENDING POLICE INVESTIGATION. And the photographer's attempts to turn the CUPPI into a homicide investigation are, at first, only a nuisance. It is a novel which quickly becomes more real than any headline.

Genres: Fiction

217 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Sandy Johnson attended the University of Pennsylvania, CIDOC in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the New School for Social Research in New York City. She studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and at the Lee Strasberg Studio in Los Angeles.

As an actress, Johnson appeared in numerous regional stage productions, various TV episodes, soap operas and appearances in feature films Ash Wednesday and Two-Minute Warning.

In 1989, Johnson joined the faculty of Washington College in Chestertown, MD, as a creative writer instructor.

Johnson published her first novel, THE CUPPI (Delacorte/Dell), a fictionalized account of a twelve-year-old runaway, THE CUPPI (a police acronym for Circumstances Undetermined Pending Police Investigation) was the first book to deal with the rising epidemic of teen-aged children taking to the streets. Because of the extensive research involving interviews with dozens of runaways, Johnson was called upon to lecture to parent-teacher groups, and law enforcement and social agencies, and made numerous TV appearances: Washington and Philadelphia morning shows, Good Morning America, The Mike Douglas Show, among them.

As a result of her personal crusade, sections of the book were read into the Congressional Record, and twelve crisis shelters opened in major cities. Stories appeared in newspapers and magazines around the country, including a four-page spread in People Magazine. Features ran in Newsday, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Liz Smith's column, and received rave reviews in The New York Times, Publishers Weekly and the Wall Street Journal. The Library Journal featured Johnson's photograph on its cover.

Johnson’s second novel, WALK A WINTER BEACH (Delacorte/Dell 1982), was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

AGAINST THE LAW (Bantam 1986), a non-fiction account of the Knoxville, Tennessee attorney Mary Evans who fell in love with her convict-client and aided his escape from prison.

THE BOOK OF ELDERS: The Life Stories & Wisdom of Great American Indians (HarperSanFrancisco 1994). THE BOOK OF TIBETAN ELDERS (Riverhead 1996) with a foreword by His Holiness the Dali Lama, THE BRAZILIAN HEALER WITH A KITCHEN KNIFE and Other Stories of Mystics, Shamans and Miracle-Makers (Rodale 2003). Republished as MYSTICS AND HEALERS

Johnson has just completed a memoir, The Thirteenth Moon and is currently working on a novel, Day of Yemanja.

Reviews

[Wendi Enright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Copyright 1979. Guess it would be interesting to read the newspaper account of the case this was based on, because the book was horrible. Disjointed and very poorly written. At least if I face the questionn in Trivia, I'll I know what CUPPI stands for - Circumstances Undetermined Pending Police Investigation.

[Michael Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary first novel. In fact, a darn good second or third novel.
Sandy Johnson, who, I am very sad to say, is no longer with us, had an ability to tell a story, to make it visual, and to entice a reader into it.
I have read it twice, tried to contact the author to praise her, but reached instead a friend who is trying to carry on her legacy.
I will read everything by Sandy Johnson I can find. What a huge talent, and what a loss for us that she is gone.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what to think of this book. Going in I had no expectations, and I think that helped. This book has a captivating story with interesting characters. Our main focus, Mr Homer Wood, has quite the arc, though it leaves many of the supporting characters flat and unlikeable.

There are mentions of sexual violence - in the way that SVU exhibits it. The violence is descriptive but not gratuitous. Also there are a few slurs used throughout the book, being that it was published in 1979. They caught me by surprise and made me a little uncomfortable, but didn’t take away from the meat of the story.

The ending, for me, leaves much to be desired.


I give this book 3/5 stars.

[Diana Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although published in the 1970's, the novel would still be relevant in the current era. The problem still exists...the exploitation of underage children by Pedophiles. Cuppi ( Circumstances undetermined pending police investigation). In other words: death but cause not determined by autopsy. In this work the author's focus is on two twelve year old runaways, who upon traveling to New York City fall prey to the “seedy” side of society. When one of the girls dies the hunt is on for the people responsible which leads to an investigation provoked by a journalist/photographer. I thought the book was interesting but lacking, it just was too predictable but still a good read. A fictional work based on an actual news story, the author does extensive research and interviews real people which is referenced in the book.