William Scott Landay (born July 23, 1963) is an American novelist and former lawyer.

Early life and education

Landay graduated from the

Roxbury Latin School The Roxbury Latin School is a private boys' day school that was founded in 1645 in the town of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts) by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. It bills ...

in Boston,

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 studen ...

.Mehegan, David
"His cases have become mysterious: Lawyer-turned-novelist digs up dirt in old Boston"
''The Boston Globe'', March 20, 2007.

Career

Prior to becoming a writer, Landay served for seven years as an

Assistant District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

Middlesex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County is located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,632,002, making it the most populous county in both Massachusetts and New England and ...

. His first novel, ''Mission Flats'', was awarded the John Creasey Dagger (now called the

New Blood Dagger __NOTOC__ The CWA New Blood Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association (CWA) for first books by previously unpublished writers. It is given in memory of CWA founder John Creasey and was previously known as The John Cre ...

) as the best debut crime novel of 2003 by the British

Crime Writers Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

. His second novel, ''The Strangler'', was shortlisted for the

Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

Critics Award as the best crime novel of 2007. Landay's third novel, ''

Defending Jacob ''Defending Jacob'' is an American crime drama novel written by novelist William Landay. The book was published in January 2012 by Random House. It tells the story of a father dealing with the accusation that his 14-year-old son is a murderer. ...

'', was released in January 2012. It was well received by critics and became an immediate ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' best seller. It was awarded the

Critics Award for best mystery novel of 2012 and was nominated for several other awards, including the Barry Award and

Hammett Prize The Hammett Prize is awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) to a Canadian or US citizen or permanent resident for a book in English in the field of crime writing. It is named after crim ...

, both for best crime novel; the

International Thriller Writers Award The International Thriller Writers Awards are awarded by International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada ...

for best thriller; the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction; and the

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

Choice Award for both best mystery/thriller and best author.

Personal life

He lives with his wife and two sons in Boston.Interview: William Landay, Author of Defending Jacob
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References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landay, William 1963 births Living people 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American lawyers American crime fiction writers American male novelists Boston College Law School alumni Writers from Boston Yale University alumni Roxbury Latin School alumni 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links