Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino; October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of the ''87th Precinct'' novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which are considered staples of police procedural genre.

His other notable works include ''The Blackboard Jungle'', a semi-autobiographical novel about life in a troubled inner-city school, which was adapted into a hit 1955 film of the same name. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film ''The Birds'', based on the Daphne du Maurier short story.

Hunter, who legally adopted that name in 1952, also used the pen names John Abbott, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon and Richard Marsten, among others. Provided by Wikipedia