Michael Capuzzo (born May 1, 1957) is an American journalist and author best known for his ''New York Times''-bestselling nonfiction books ''

The Murder Room ''The Murder Room'' is a 2003 detective novel and the 12th in the Adam Dalgliesh series by P. D. James. It takes place in London, particularly the Dupayne Museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath in the London Borough of Camden. Plot The Dupayne ...

'' and '' Close to Shore'' He was formerly a reporter with the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' and the ''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', where he received four

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

nominations. ''The Murder Room,'' the true story of a private dining club of famous detectives who solve cold murders, and ''Close to Shore'', an historic thriller and recreation of the first American shark attack in World War I-era New Jersey, both enjoyed wide acclaim from critics and authors such as

Gay Talese Gaetano "Gay" Talese (; born February 7, 1932) is an American writer. As a journalist for ''The New York Times'' and ''Esquire'' magazine during the 1960s, Talese helped to define contemporary literary journalism and is considered, along with T ...

Mark Bowden Mark Robert Bowden (; born July 17, 1951) is an American journalist and writer. He is a national correspondent for ''The Atlantic''. He is best known for his book ''Black Hawk Down (book), Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War'' (1999) about th ...

, John Sanford, and

Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bes ...

. Capuzzo was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in the Boston area before studied journalism at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He was a reporter with the ''

'' for six years before joining the ''

'' where he worked from 1986 to 1994 before becoming a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. In 1997 he married Teresa Banik, a food critic for ''

Philadelphia Magazine ''Philadelphia'' (also called "''Philadelphia'' magazine" or referred to by the nickname "Phillymag", once called ''Greater Philadelphia'') is a regional monthly magazine published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the Lipson family of Philadelphia ...

''. Formerly a resident of

Wenonah, New Jersey Wenonah is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,283, an increase of 5 from the ...

, in 2004 Capuzzo and his wife relocated to

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Wellsboro is a borough in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. The borough was founded by Benjamin Wistar Morris. It is located northwest of Williamsport. The population was 3,472 at the 2020 census. Early in the 20th century, Wellsboro was the shipp ...

. In 2006 he and his wife founded ''Mountain Home'', a monthly magazine serving the

Twin Tiers The Twin Tiers are the collective counties that lie on the New York-Pennsylvania border on either side of the 42nd parallel north. The region is predominantly rural and contains many small towns. Separately, the two halves of the Twin Tiers regi ...

and New York Finger Lakes regions. He earned an MFA in creative nonfiction from

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

in 2011, during which time he completed ''The Murder Room'' and was mentored by

-winning journalist Thomas French. ''The Murder Room'', published in a number of countries, was one of five finalists for The Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction given by the British Crime Writer's Association for the best true-crime book by any writer of any nationality published in England in 2010/2011. A TV series based on the book was in development as of 2011, to be written by

George Nolfi George Nolfi (born June 10, 1968) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut in 2011 with sci-fi action, romance thriller, ''The Adjustment Bureau'' starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Nolfi's work has been known to blend genres an ...

and produced by

Carol Mendelsohn Carol Mendelsohn (born 1951) is an American television producer, showrunner, and screenwriter, known for her work on the crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. Education Mendelsohn grew up in Chicago, where her father was an attorney. ...

, of ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

''. Capuzzo was interviewed several times on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

about the book, including ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...

'' With

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR i ...

, and the book was the subject of an ABC News prime-time one-hour special episode of ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

'' in September 2010. Capuzzo has appeared nationwide as a keynote speaker and at colleges talking about writing; at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

he taught ''Close to Shore'' as an honors colloquium, and the book was "The Big Read" at

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

Works

* ''The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases'' (2010). * '' Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence'' (2002) * ''Mutts: America's Dogs'' (with Brian Kilcommons) (2001) * ''Cat Caught My Heart : Purrfect Tales of Wisdom, Hope, and Love'' (edited with Teresa Banik Capuzzo, 1999) * ''Our Best Friends : Wagging Tales to Warm the Heart'' (edited with Teresa Banik Capuzzo, 1999) * ''Wild Things: The Wacky and Wonderful Truth about the Animal Kingdom'' (1995)

References

External links

*
''Mountain Home'' magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capuzzo, Michael 1957 births 21st-century American journalists People from Tioga County, Pennsylvania People from Wenonah, New Jersey Writers from Pennsylvania Living people Northwestern University alumni Goucher College alumni 21st-century American non-fiction writers