William Bayer is a renowned crime fiction author, born on February 20, 1939, in Cleveland, Ohio. He comes from a family with a rich literary background; his mother, Eleanor Perry, was a screenwriter, and his father, Leo G. Bayer, was an attorney and wrote four mysteries under the pseudonym Oliver Weld Bayer. Raised in a secular Jewish household, Bayer identifies with this heritage.
Bayer has written nineteen fiction and non-fiction books, with thirteen of his novels available in ebook and audiobook formats. His work has been translated into fourteen languages, and two of his novels, Switch and Pattern Crimes, were New York Times bestsellers. Throughout his career, Bayer has received several prestigious awards for his novels. Peregrine won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, Switch received the French Prix Mystère de la Critique, Mirror Maze won the French Le Grand Prix Calibre 38, and The Magician's Tale earned the Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery.
Bayer's academic background includes education at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, where he majored in art history. His honors thesis at Harvard focused on a Paul Gauguin painting, "D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?" He served in Washington, Vietnam, and New York as an officer with the U.S. Information Agency for six years. He has also been a grantee of The American Film Institute and The National Endowment of the Arts.
In addition to his writing, Bayer has been involved in the film industry. His novel Switch was the basis for seven television movies, all featuring NYPD Detective Frank Janek, played by Richard Crenna. These movies were broadcast nationally by CBS in prime time. Bayer is married to food writer Paula Wolfert, and they have lived in various locations, including Paris, New York, Connecticut, Tangier, San Francisco, and currently reside in the Sonoma Valley, an area north of San Francisco.