From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Ira Berkowitz born on October 8 1939 in Brooklyn New York is an American writer of crime fiction His Jackson Steeg Mystery Series novels are set in Hells Kitchen Berkowitzs debut novel Family Matters published in 2006 won the Washington Irving Award for Literary Merit and was a USAToday Top Ten Summer Read selection He followed up with his second Washington Irving Award for his novel Old Flame published in 2008 The third novel in the Jackson Steeg series Sinners Ball published in December 2009 won the Shamus Award for Best Original Paperback Crime Fiction Novel of 2009 Description above from the Wikipedia article Ira Berkowitz licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia