Dorothy Uhnak
Uhnak's first book was autobiographical Policewoman (1964), written and published while she was still a New York Transit Police detective.
Her debut fiction, The Bait (1968), received a 1969 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel (in a tie with E. Richard Johnson's Silver Street). ,The Bait was also made into a 1973 made-for-television film of the same title. It was followed by The Witness and The Ledger, which was adapted for the TV-movie and series Get Christie Love! starring Teresa Graves. All three novels featured Christie Opara, an NYPD detective assigned to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where Uhnak herself was assigned for many years.
Later works included Law and Order, which was made into a TV-movie starring Darren McGavin and The Investigation, which was adapted into a TV-movie, "Kojak: The Price of Justice", with Telly Savalas.
In her later years she suffered from depression. She committed suicide by a self-administered drug overdoes in 2006. She was seventy-six at the time of her death.
“I picked up the butter-soft suede shirt and slacks and held them toward Martucci, but he bent over, grabbing at his stomach, and made it into the dark little cubicle in time to vomit into the toilet. He ran the small trickle of water in the sink over his hands, dabbed water on his face, then blotted himself on the rough paper towels. Within the next five minutes, he was dressed and deposited in the rear seat of my car between Haley and Finn. Vito, who had scared the living hell out of the hustler before giving him a kick in the ass out the hotel's side door, sat next to me as I drove. Vito was breathing heavily; it was the only sound in the car.”