Carlton Smith (1947-2011) was the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Search for the Green River Killer: The True Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer with Tomás Guillén, about the crimes of Gary Ridgway. They were Pulitzer Prize finalists in 1988 for their investigative reporting on the case.
An award-winning journalist for The Los Angeles Times and The Seattle Times during the 1970s and 1980s, Carlton was also the author of the true crime books Blood Money: The Du Pont Heir and the Murder of an Olympic Athlete and Reckless: Millionaire Record Producer Phil Spector and the Violent Death of Lana Clarkson, among many others.
