BUCHANAN, Edna (Rydzik)

Born circa 1939, Paterson, New Jersey.

Married Emmett Miller (divorced); Jim Buchanan (divorced)

Edna Buchanan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the police beat for the Miami Herald for nearly two decades, as well as a bestselling crime novelist. She is known for her punchy writing style, which has carried over from her newspaper reporting into her fiction. She is also renowned for her attention to detail and her portrayals of Miami—which plays the role of a major character in her novels.

Buchanan was born in Paterson, New Jersey. Her mother, taking Buchanan and her younger sister with her, left Buchanan's father, who worked in a factory and later ran a tavern, when Buchanan was seven. When Edna was twelve, she took a position in a coat factory to help her mother with the family finances. This was followed by several other blue-collar jobs. Due to monetary concerns, she never attended college. Eventually Buchanan and her mother both became switchboard assemblers at Western Electric. During their first vacation, they visited Miami and decided to move there.

In 1964 Buchanan took a position at the Miami Beach Sun, a small local newspaper where she received intensive on-the-job training as a reporter. She moved to the Miami Herald in 1970 and worked as a news and court reporter before transferring to the police beat in 1973, becoming the first woman to fill the position full-time. She quickly gained a reputation for her tenacity in gathering information and compassion for victims, about whom she tried to find out as much as possible, and ultimately earned grudging respect from members of the police force. She also was acclaimed for her gripping writing style, particularly her leads.

Over the course of 15 years, Buchanan covered more than 5,000 crimes, predominantly murders, winning awards from the National Newspaper Association, the American Bar Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists. She won the Pulitzer for general reporting in 1986.

Buchanan's first book, published in 1979, was Carr: Five Years of Rape and Murder, From the Personal Account of Robert Frederick Carr III. While in prison, the eponymous Carr confided to Edna details from his years of criminal behavior. The book achieved some critical acclaim, particularly for its psychological insight, but it did not sell well, and it was eight years before Buchanan released another book-length work. In 1987 Buchanan's memoir of her years as a crime reporter, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face: Covering Miami, America's Hottest Beat, became a bestseller, thanks in part to the publicity from her recent Pulitzer. Although some reviewers found her newspaper style irritating in book form, most embraced it. One example of Buchanan's trademark prose: "Many of the corpses have had familiar faces: cops and killers, politicians and prostitutes, doctors and lawyers. Some were my friends."

Two made-for-television films based on The Corpse Had a Familiar Face were aired on CBS in 1994 and 1995, both featuring Elizabeth Montgomery as Buchanan. Buchanan then published a subsequent memoir, Never Let Them See You Cry: More from Miami, America's Hottest Beat. Her first novel, Nobody Lives Forever, was published in 1990. It received somewhat mixed reviews but was nominated for an Edgar award for best first mystery. As in later novels, Buchanan featured Miami almost as a character in its own right and created believable characters who echoed the real lives of the people featured in her memoirs.

Buchanan's second novel, Contents Under Pressure, was published in 1992, the same year as Never Let Them See You Cry. It introduced Britt Montero, a Cuban-American reporter for a fictional Miami newspaper, who the author has admitted is somewhat of an alter ego. Or, as Buchanan puts it, Montero is what she would like to be.

Contents Under Pressure was a commercial success, as were her subsequent novels, many of which feature Montero. They include Miami, It's Murder (1994), Suitable for Framing (1995), Act of Betrayal (1996), and Margin of Error (1997). Most received mixed reviews from critics, although nearly all praised her journalistic eye and ability to create a good story and capture Miami's atmosphere. Publishers Weekly wrote of Margin of Error: "Buchanan's Pulitzer Prize-winning eye doesn't miss much in Miami. She knows its poshest precincts, its poorest projects and the troubles lurking in both. She also knows how to reveal the vulnerable heart beating within Britt's tough exterior."

Buchanan's recent novel, Pulse (1998), was praised by reviewers as a character study containing both suspense and emotion. Miami again plays a starring role, but the book's lead character (not Montero this time) also travels to Seattle, which the author portrays with equal believability.

In addition to her novels, Buchanan also writes articles for publications including Cosmopolitan, Fame, Family Circle and Rolling Stone.

Bibliography:

Reference Works:

CA 132 (1991). CBY (1997).

Other reference:

New Yorker (17 Feb. 1986). NYTBR (20 Feb. 1994, 24 March 1996). PW (19 Sept. 1994, 16 Jan. 1995, 2 June 1997, 30 March 1998). Time (28 Sept. 1987).

—KAREN RAUGUST