by Otto Penzler
Elmore Leonard may have been the most highly regarded crime writer of the past half century. Among his numerous awards were the Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America and the National Book Foundation 2012 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He wrote nearly fifty books, many of which were the inspiration for motion pictures—some very good, such as Hombre, Get Shorty, and Jackie Brown (based on Rum Punch)—and some not so good. He claimed that The Big Bounce, filmed twice, inspired the two worst movies ever made, and he despised the Burt Reynolds vehicle Stick. Leonard died in August 2013.
Michael Malone has taught at numerous universities, currently at Duke. He is the author of several novels, including Dingley Falls and Handling Sin, which are frequently among the assigned reading in classes on modern literature and the American novel. His mystery novels feature the North Carolina policemen Justin Savile and Cuddy Mangum, introduced in Uncivil Seasons and continued in Time’s Witness and First Lady. Malone has won an Edgar, a Peabody, and an Emmy as the writer of the daytime drama series One Life to Live.
Lou Manfredo, a former New York City schoolteacher and legal investigator, served in the Brooklyn criminal court system for twenty-five years. He has written three highly praised books about Joe Rizzo, a long-time veteran of the New York Police Department working in Brooklyn: Rizzo’s War, Rizzo’s Fire, and Rizzo’s Daughter, which have been compared frequently to Ed McBain’s novels. He is a regular contributor to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
Ed McBain was the pseudonym of Evan Hunter, who wrote such mainstream novels as The Blackboard Jungle and Strangers When We Meet, both successful films. As McBain, he was best known for his series of novels about the 87th Precinct, which have sold more than a hundred million copies worldwide as the most famous and most loved police procedurals ever written. He was given the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America for lifetime achievement in 1986. He died in 2005.
Tim McLoughlin was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he still resides and sets his works of fiction. His novel Heart of the Old Country was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series, was favorably compared to Richard Price’s work, won him Italy’s Premio Penne award, and was the basis for the motion picture The Narrows. He also was the editor of Brooklyn Noir, Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics, and Brooklyn Noir 3: Nothing but the Truth.
Joyce Carol Oates was born in upstate New York and now teaches at Princeton University. As one of the most honored authors in the world, she has been nominated for five National Book Awards, winning one for the novel them; given the PEN/Malamud Award; and won and been nominated for countless other awards. She is the author of more than fifty novels, several hundred short stories, and numerous other works, including such best-selling novels as Blonde, The Falls, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, and We Were the Mulvaneys, one of several of her works to be filmed.
Hannah Tinti earned her M.A. from New York University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program. Her work has been published in such journals as Story, Epoch, Alaska Quarterly Review, Story Quarterly, and Sonora Review. Her short story collection Animal Crackers was a runner-up for the Pen/Hemingway Award. Her 2008 novel, The Good Thief, received the American Library Association’s Alex Award and the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize.
F.X. Toole was the pseudonym of Jerry Boyd. After a brief matador career, he became a boxing trainer and ringside “cut man.” He also began writing and, after forty years, published a short story, “The Monkey Look,” in Zyzzyva. His first book, a collection of stories about professional boxing, Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner, drew critical praise, and movie rights were sold. Two stories were adapted for Clint Eastwood’s 2004 film Million Dollar Baby, which won the Best Picture Oscar. Boyd died in 2002.
Scott Turow’s first crime novel, Presumed Innocent, became an international bestseller when it was published in 1987 and inspired a film of the same title starring Harrison Ford. All nine of his novels have made the best-seller list, and in 1999 Time named Personal Injuries the year’s best work of fiction. His work has been translated into forty languages. His long career as a lawyer has served as the background for his fiction. His most recent work is Identical, published in 2013.
About the Editor
OTTO PENZLER is a renowned mystery editor, publisher, columnist, and owner of New York’s The Mysterious Bookshop, the oldest and largest bookstore solely dedicated to mystery fiction. He has edited more than fifty crime-fiction anthologies.
