Landay’s third novel, Defending Jacob, was released in January 2012. It was well received by critics and became an immediate New York Times best seller. It was awarded the Strand Magazine Critics Award for best mystery novel of 2012 and was nominated for several other awards, including the Barry Award and Hammett Prize, both for best crime novel; the International Thriller Writers Award for best thriller; the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction; and the Goodreads Choice Award for both best mystery/thriller and best author.

His second novel, The Strangler, was shortlisted for the Strand Magazine Critics Award as the best crime novel of 2007.

His first novel, Mission Flats, was awarded the John Creasey Dagger (now called the New Blood Dagger) as the best debut crime novel of 2003 by the British Crime Writers Association.

William Landay (born 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts ) is an American novelist.