Peter Blauner

[6] In 1988, at the height of the crack epidemic, Blauner took a leave of absence from his journalism job and spent six months as a volunteer probation officer.

[7] It won the Edgar award, and named an "International Book of the Year" in the Times Literary Supplement by Patricia Highsmith, who called it "unforgetttable.

[9] For his next book, Blauner spent a year as a volunteer at a homeless shelter and visited the underground dwellings of "mole people" living beneath Manhattan's Riverside Park.

[12] Man of the Hour appeared in 1999: a pre-9/11 suspense novel about Middle Eastern terrorism in New York, the hysteria of modern celebrity, and the public school system.

[15][16] In his book "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft," Stephen King names two of Blauner's novels, The Intruder and The Last Good Day, on his recommended reading list.

[18] He served as a co-executive producer of Law & Order: SVU, where he was the writer of the show's 300th episode, "Manhattan Vigil," which was loosely based on his 2007 short story "Going, Going, Gone.