William Caunitz

William J. Caunitz (1933–1996) was a New York City Police Department officer who used his own experiences to write best-selling thrillers.

After serving in the United States Marine Corps, and working for an insurance company, he joined the NYPD in his twenties. He first worked as a patrolman, and eventually rose through the ranks to become a lieutenant, followed by an assignment as a detective squad commander. Caunitz wrote with great authenticity when describing precinct day-to-day life in his novels. The New York Times has compared him to Joseph Wambaugh.^[1]

After many rewrites,^[2] his first novel One Police Plaza came out in 1984. It was made into a television film starring Robert Conrad in 1986. In 1988 the film got a sequel, The Red Spider. His novels usually center around one or two police officers that follow detailed police procedures to solve a crime, and he also used some sensational elements of thrillers. He did not write with an outline, preferring to let the plot evolve unpredictably as he was writing.^[3]

Caunitz died in 1996 from pulmonary fibrosis^[4] His last novel, Chains of Command, was half-completed at the time of his death and finished by Christopher Newman.

Bibliography

• One Police Plaza (1984)
• Suspects (1986)
• Black Sand (1989)
• Exceptional Clearance (1991)
• Cleopatra Gold (1993)
• Pigtown (1995)
• Chains of Command (1999)

External links

• William Caunitz at IMDb
• 1991 audio interview with William Caunitz at Wired for Books.org by Don Swaim

References