In addition, beginning in the 1960s, she published numerous popular mystery novels with a woman protagonist, under the pen name of Amanda Cross.

Death in a Tenured Position (1981, set at Harvard University) was particularly harsh in its criticism of the academic establishment's treatment of women.

"[6] Her books were translated into "Japanese, German, French, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish and Italian, selling in total nearly a million copies worldwide.

[7] Heilbrun enjoyed solitude when working and, despite being a wife and mother of three, often spent time alone at various retreats over the years, including her luxury Manhattan apartment and a country home in upstate New York.

In keeping with her views on aging in The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty, she quit wearing high heels, hose, and form-fitting clothing in her early 60s.

Heilbrun's son recalled, "My mother was a generous hostess when she was young, but lost interest in dinner parties as she got older.

She preferred to order groceries from the local supermarket and have them sent to her apartment as she was too busy to waste time squeezing oranges at Fairway.

One fall morning in 2003, she went for a walk around New York City with her longtime friend Mary Ann Caws and told the latter: "I feel sad."

[10] Heilbrun was the subject of a 1992 New York Times Magazine profile by Anne Matthews wherein she accused the Columbia English Department of discriminating against women.

"When I spoke up for women's issues, I was made to feel unwelcome in my own department, kept off crucial committees, ridiculed, ignored," Heilbrun told the New York Times.

"[11] Heilbrun, as a scholar wrote or edited 14 nonfiction books, including the feminist study Writing a Woman's Life (1988).