[2] Finstad received the Frank Wardlaw Prize in 1984 for literary excellence for her first book, Heir Not Apparent (1984),[3] drawn from her experiences as a young law clerk and trial attorney investigating claims to the billion-dollar estate of industrialist, aviator and filmmaker Howard Hughes, who appeared to have died without a valid will.
[4] American Cinematographer described Heir Not Apparent as a "spellbinding account of intrigues by lawyers, relatives and fortune hunters for a share in the Hughes estate.
"[9] Her second book, Ulterior Motives: The Killing and Dark Legacy of Tycoon Henry Kyle (1987), took her into the genre of the non-fiction true crime novel created by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, centering on a spectacular murder trial which revealed that self-made millionaire Kyle, shot by his older son, had a violent Jekyll-Hyde personality and a lifetime of secrets, including a hidden wife and daughter.
[10] Ulterior Motives, which began as a Rolling Stone assignment into Kyle's mysterious murder in his rundown Sunset Boulevard mansion, presents a true tale of "money, greed, family discord, drugs and a bigger-than-life cast of characters," according to the Houston Post.
"[14] The paperback includes details about Minns' arrest for felony passport fraud, assisted by information provided by Finstad,[15] who, reported the Dallas Morning News,"fearlessly dug into the story about the brilliant, complex man who has stayed beyond the reach of the courts and the Houston police.
In 1988, Finstad wrote a cover story on Queen Noor of Jordan, the beautiful blond American who married King Hussein after graduating from Princeton's first class to admit women ("The Incredible Odyssey of Lisa Halaby").
While Child Bride was on several cities' bestseller lists, Priscilla filed a lawsuit against Currie Grant, denying his claim that she had sex with him in exchange for introducing her to Elvis Presley.
"Finstad's research and her analysis of Priscilla's complex character make for a riveting read," Liz Smith wrote in the New York Post.".
[21] In 2001, Finstad wrote the New York Times bestseller Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood, published by Harmony/Crown and released in the UK by Century London.
"[26] "The information Finstad has discovered about Wood's horrific childhood, her anxiety-ridden stardom, and her mysterious death is deeply disturbing," noted Variety.
[30] In his review for the Washington Post Book World, Jonathan Yardley observed, "Finstad has a keen sense of how that city's dream factory simultaneously turns women into stars and leaves them bereft.
[33] USA Today called it "[a] compelling biography;"[34] another reviewer described it as "an engrossing account of a complex individual ... periodically referring to the parallel lives of the brother-sister duo of Beatty and Shirley MacLaine.
The impact made on their astonishing lives by a Baptist Virginia background along with their upbringing by an emotionless father (who blamed marriage for his lack of success) and a Canadian drama-teacher mother is ...
"[35] "Award-winning biographer Suzanne Finstad doesn't shy away from Beatty's womanizing ways," wrote the critic Allan Hunter.