Chris Steinbrunner

Who was Chris Steinbrunner?

Peter Christian Steinbrunner was an Edgar Award-winning American author, broadcaster and historian specializing in detective film and fiction.

Steinbrunner grew up in Queens, New York, and attended Fordham University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters degree in sociology. While at Fordham, and for some years afterward, he was the host of a weekly radio program broadcast from the university station WFUV-FM, on which he presented interviews as well as occasional dramatitizations of Sherlock Holmes stories.

Following his college years, he was employed at the local New York City television station WOR-TV, becoming its film programming director. He remained at the station until the mid-1980s, during which time he produced entertainment specials about James Bond and Sherlock Holmes.

Steinbrunner was well-known among Holmes aficionados, and mystery fans in general, as exceptionally knowledgeable in his field. He was a founding member of the Baker Street Irregulars’ scion society "The Priory Scholars of Fordham". He was a long-time member of the Mystery Writers of America, receiving its Edgar Award for co-authoring the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1976.