He has shared a Pulitzer Prize for journalism[1] and been nominated for the "first novel" Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

[5][6] With the Journal, he also helped cover breaking news including the September 11 World Trade Center attack, and shared in the staff's Pulitzer Prize for that work, which cited "its comprehensive and insightful coverage, executed under the most difficult circumstances, of the terrorist attack on New York City, which recounted the day's events and their implications for the future.

"[1][7] Gruley's first novel, Starvation Lake: a mystery, was published in 2009 as a trade paperback original by the Touchstone Books imprint of Simon & Schuster.

It is set in the fictional town of Starvation Lake, based on Bellaire, the seat of Antrim County, Michigan.

[5] Two sequels have followed in the so-called Starvation Lake series, The Hanging Tree (2010) and The Skeleton Box (2012).