Dorothy Uhnak (1933–2006)

Dorothy Uhnak, née Goldstein, was born in the Bronx, New York City. She attended City College of New York and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She worked for 14 years as a New York City Transit Authority Police detective and won two awards for bravery. While still on the force, she wrote her debut book, a memoir called Policewoman: A Young Woman’s Initiation Into the Realities of Justice (1964). After its publication, she left police work and devoted herself to writing full-time. Her first novel, The Bait (1968), received a 1969 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel and was adapted into a television film in 1973. It was followed by The Witness (1969) and The Ledger (1970), which was adapted for the TV-movie and series Get Christie Love! All three novels featured Det. Christie Opara, assigned to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where Uhnak herself had worked.

After this trilogy, Ms. Uhnak branched out into longer, more ambitious police novels. Her breakout book was Law and Order (1973), about three generations of a police department family; it became a bestseller and was adapted into a TV movie. Another hit was The Investigation (1977), the basis for the TV-movie Kojak: Price of Justice. Ms. Uhnak was a precursor of other women who write novels about tough crime-fighting protagonists. Her books were translated into 15 languages and were particularly popular in France.