LONGTIME EDITOR OF SUSPENSE NOVELS DIES IN N.Y. AT 80

Joan Kahn, a book editor whose imprint was a hallmark of suspense stories for many years, died on Tuesday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan after a brief illness. She was 80 and lived in Manhattan.

Miss Kahn edited hundreds of suspense novels and her imprint, "A Joan Kahn Book," represented excellence for discriminating mystery lovers. She started the Harper Novels of Suspense during her 34-year career there.Through the years, she signed such writers as Dorothy L. Sayers, Dick Francis, Patricia Highsmith, Michael Gilbert, Julian Symons, John Creasey and Tony Hillerman.