Laurence Shames, who has described himself as a "diehard pragmatic liberal," was born January 26, 1951, in Newark, New Jersey. He received a bachelor's degree from New York University in 1972, when he began his writing career. His list of mystery novels includes Florida Straits, 1992; Scavenger Reef, 1994; Sunburn, 1995; Tropical Depression, 1996; Virgin Heat, 1997; and Mangrove Squeeze, 1998. His non-fiction work The Big Time: The Harvard Business School's Most Successful Class--and How It Shaped America, 1986, made Business Week's list of ten best books for the year. Other works include The Hunger for More: Searching for Values in an Age of Greed. Shames has also published essays in Esquire, Playboy, and Saturday Review.

New York University

Visit the web site of the university from which Shames graduated.

Harvard Business School

Visit the web site of the school featured in one of Shames' most popular works of non-fiction.

The Sweet Smell of Success Isn't All that Sweet