Vern E. Smith formerly served as the Atlanta Bureau chief and as a national correspondent for Newsweek. As a principal reporter with Newsweek's Special Projects Unit, he contributed to four cover stories later published as books. One of the stories, “Charlie Co.: What Vietnam Did to Us,” won the 1981 National Magazine Award for Single Issue Topic. He also served as a principal reporter and blogger for the 2004 Voices of Civil Rights oral history project, which is permanently housed in the Library of Congress. His work has also appeared in Emerge, the London Sunday Times, Ebony, GEO, the Crisis magazine, Merian magazine, and the History Channel Magazine.

A 1974 New York Times Notable Book and 1975 Edgar Award Nominee BEFORE THERE WAS STREET LIT, THERE WERE THE STREETS ... AND THE JONES MEN RULED THEM "It was The Wire before there was The Wire." - Gar Anthony Haywood DETROIT, 1974 To become the King, you have to take the crown. It won't be given up lightly. Heroin kingpin, Willis McDaniel, has been wearing that particular piece of jewelry for far too long, and youngblood, Lennie Jack, thinks it would look really good on his head. When a junkie tells Jack about a big delivery, the young Vietnam vet makes his move. Feeling his empire crumble, McDaniel puts the word out to find whoever's responsible. The hunt is on, the battle is engaged, and the streets of Detroit run red with blood. In 1974 Vern E. Smith took the crime fiction world by storm with his debut novel, The Jones Men. Heralded as "a large accomplishment in the art of fiction" by the New York Times, The Jones Men went on to be nominated for an Edgar Award and became a New York Times Notable Book. The art of crime fiction has never been the same since. Vern E. Smith The Jones Men was Vern E. Smith's first and last published novel. He currently resides in Atlanta.