Thomas Perry (author)

Writings

Perry's work has covered a variety of fictional suspense starting with The Butcher's Boy, which received a 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel, followed by Metzger's Dog, Big Fish, Island, and Sleeping Dogs. He then launched the critically acclaimed Jane Whitefield series: Vanishing Act (chosen as one of the "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association), Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money, Runner, and Poison Flower. The New York Times selected Nightlife for its best seller selection. From this point, Perry has elected to develop a non-series list of mysteries with Death Benefits, Pursuit (which won a Gumshoe Award in 2002), Dead Aim, Night Life, Fidelity, and Strip. In The Informant, released in 2011, Perry brought back the hit-man character first introduced in The Butcher's Boy and later the protagonist in Sleeping Dogs.

Biography

Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York, in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has been a laborer, maintenance man, commercial fisherman, weapons mechanic, university administrator and teacher, as well as a television writer and producer (Simon & Simon, 21 Jump Street, Star Trek: The Next Generation). To date, Perry has written 24 novels with publication of Old Man in 2017. He lives in Southern California with his wife Jo (ne Lee) and two children.