Elaine’s Famous Eatery Immortalized on Cover of New Mystery

Stuart Woods always starts novels in Elaine’s, and very often Elaine Kaufman is a character in the books. But now that Elaine has departed this Earth for bigger hostess duties, and the buildings that housed the place have been off for nearly $9 million (make way, Dunkin Donuts or Picasso Nails, or both), Woods has a dilemma. His answer can be seen on the cover of his new one, “Unnatural Acts.” The new cover is seen to the left. This new Stone Barrington mystery will be published by Putnam on April 24, 2012. Meantime, some regulars of Elaine’s are helping put together an Elaine Kaufman Foundation, already registered as a 501 c3 charity. Details are forthcoming. In Kaufman’s will, she specified that her estate set up a foundation for childhood literacy. But this group is independent of that. Kaufman was famous for nurturing writers, letting them run up huge bar and food tabs, and then ripping them up.