raymond chandler praised krasner’s mystery fiction in a 1951 letter to frederic dannay: “[i]t may also happen that single book, such as ... "walk the dark streets" by william krasner ... will immediately put the writer above and beyond a whole host of writers who have written twenty or thirty books and are extremely well known and successful”. his work was also recognized by cultural critic and historian jacques barzun. krasner also published two realistic urban novels, "the gambler" (1950) and "north of welfare" (1954) and one work of historical fiction, "francis parkman: dakota legend" (1982). in 1955 he received an award for literature from the national institute of arts and letters (now the american academy of arts and letters).