Perry's work has covered a variety of fictional suspense starting with The Butcher's Boy, which received a 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel, followed by Metzger's Dog, Big Fish, Island, and Sleeping Dogs. He then launched the critically acclaimed Jane Whitefield five-part series: Vanishing Act (chosen as a "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association"), Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, and Blood Money. The New York Times selected Nightlife for its best seller selection From this point, Perry has elected to develop a non-series list of mysteries with Death Benefits, Pursuit (which won a Gumshoe Award in 2002), Dead Aim, Night Life and Fidelity. Fidelity was published in 2008. Jane Whitefield reappeared in 2009 with a new book called Runner. His 2010 contribution is a new novel called Strip.

Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has been a laborer, maintenance man, commercial fisherman, weapons mechanic, university administrator and teacher, and television writer and producer (Simon and Simon, 21 Jump Street, Star Trek: The Next Generation). To date, he has completed 17 novels with the release of Strip coming in May 2010. He lives in Southern California with his wife and two daughters.

Jane Whitefield novels

• Vanishing Act (1995) ISBN 978-0-679-43536-0
• Dance for the Dead (1996) ISBN 978-0-679-44911-9
• Shadow Woman (1997) ISBN 978-0-679-45302-4
• The Face-Changers (1998) ISBN 978-0-679-45303-1
• Blood Money (1999) ISBN 978-0-679-45304-8
• Runner (2009) ISBN 978-0-15-101528-3

Other novels

• The Butcher's Boy (1982) ISBN ISBN 0-684-17455-3 ( PB) (2003) ISBN 978-0-8129-6773-9
• Metzger's Dog (1983) ISBN 978-0-6841-7948-2 (PB) (2003) ISBN 978-0-8129-6774-6
• Big Fish (1985) ISBN 978-0-684-18367-1
• Island (1987) ISBN 978-0-399-13327-5
• Sleeping Dogs (1992) ISBN 978-0-679-41064-5
• Death Benefits (2001) ISBN 978-0-679-45305-5
• Pursuit (2001) ISBN 978-0-679-45306-2
• Dead Aim (2002) ISBN 1-4000-6003-6
• Nightlife (2006) ISBN 1-4000-6004-4
• Silence (2007) ISBN 978-0-15-101289-3 (PB) (2008) 978-0-1560-3330-5
• Fidelity (2008) ISBN 978-0-15-101292-3
• Strip (2010) ISBN 978-0-15-101522-1