William Bayer is an American novelist, the author of Switch, among other works. An early book, "Punish Me With Kisses", was praised by Gael Greene as "The best blend of sex and slowly growing horror since "Looking for Mr. Goodbar". Bayer has written a series of novels featuring fictional NYPD lieutenant Frank Janek. He has also written adaptions of his novels for television, and written for other TV shows. His books have been extensively translated into French, Italian, German, Dutch and Japanese. His novel "Peregrine" won the 1982 Mystery Writers of American Edgar Allan Poe Award (the "Edgar") for Best Novel. The French edition of his "The Dream Of The Broken Horses" was awarded the 2005 Prix Mystere de la Critique for best foreign crime novel. Among his other awards: the 1994 "Prix Calibre 38" for the French edition of "Mirror Maze," and the 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery for "The Magician's Tale." He has written two novels, "The Magician's Tale" and "Trick Of Light" under the pseudonym David Hunt. He wrote and directed the 1971 feature film Mississippi Summer "Mississippi Summer" won the Golden Hugo Award for "Best First Feature" at the 1970 Chicago Film Festival.
Bayer was born in Cleveland, OH., February 20, 1939, son of attorney Leo Bayer and writer Eleanor Rosenfeld Bayer. (Eleanor Bayer later became known as Eleanor Perry, and had a distinguished career as a screenwriter). Bayer attended the Sidwell Friends School, in Washington, D.C. (1946); the Hawken School in Lynhurst, OH (1946—1953), and graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH, with a classical diploma in 1956. In 1960 he graduated cum laude from Harvard College, Cambridge, MA. From 1962-1968 he served as a foreign service officer of the United States Information Agency. He is married to cookbook author Paula Wolfert, and has lived with her in Tangier, Morocco; New York, NY; on Martha's Vineyard Island, MA.; and in Newtown, CT. They moved to San Francisco, CA. in 1994. They currently reside in Sonoma, CA.