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Edna Buchanan Research Paper

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Edna Buchanan lives a life of crime. Not committing crimes, but covering them. She covered Miami’s hottest beat for the Miami Herald, and after leaving the Herald, she turned her stories from the scene into memoirs and books. Buchanan’s stories detail crimes and scenes in award-winning ways. She was so secretive about her stories and there was such a strict method to her madness, one colleague stated that editors were afraid of her. When Buchanan married a police officer, she learned a lot more about the nature of cops, which helped her in her work. Buchanan may have covered the hottest beat in Miami, but the real story comes from how she covered them. Edna Buchanan, born Edna Rydzik, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on March 16, 1938 (“Edna” …show more content…

In her book Never Let Them See You Cry, she details love stories turned into murder scenes. From a man caught cheating and running a car, with him and his wife in it, into a column killing himself to an electrician killing his wife by electrocuting her, Buchanan has covered her fair share of loves gone wrong, including her own loves ending in divorce (Buchanan, Page 27). In January 1963, Edna married James Buchanan, but the couple divorced in 1965. Since then, Edna has kept his name (“Edna” IMDb). Buchanan married Emmett Miller in June of 1970, but it is unknown when they divorced (“Edna” IMDb). In Buchanan’s memoirs, she writes about the stories she has covered, and how her personal life has been affected. Buchanan found, through her second marriage, that she was better off alone (Geeslin). Her second husband was a cop, so she got to see insight into the cops she worked with because she was married to one. "No better human being exists than a good cop and no worse creature than a bad one. The truth is, the good cop and the bad cop are often the same cop, at different moments, on different days, with different people,” (Buchanan, Page 89). Her love for a cop and her work with them showed Buchanan that “cops are all too human, but they are not like you and me,” (Buchanan, Page 89). Buchanan states that the distrust cops have for “outsiders,” such as the media, makes them keep to themselves (Buchanan, Page 89). Some …show more content…

One story, Foolproof, tells the story of Detective Dan Flood and Dade County Medical Examiner, Dr. George Webb. Dr. Webb invited Detective Flood to witness an autopsy on a mummy from thousands of years prior. However, when the lab tested the fingerprints of the mummy, they came back matching a San Francisco street gang member named “Pharaoh,” (Block). Since it was not possible to replicate prints and would be impossible to have matching prints, Webb and Flood flew to San Francisco to track down Pharaoh. When they arrived, he was dead. Homicide. After double checking the fingerprints, they knew they were a 100% match (Block). They drove to the Golden Gate Bridge, ripped the pictures of the prints, and threw them into the water (Block). This story and Buchanan’s other works of fiction, showcase the skill Buchanan had in writing. Not only could she follow leads, interview individuals, and report on crime scenes, but she could also dream up impossible, yet realistic stories that made readers hang onto every word. Many say there is a distinct difference between authors and reporters. For Buchanan, that is true. On her website, she states, “Police reporters are usually as welcome among strangers as Freddy Krueger in the girls’ dorm, while authors are invited to speak at luncheons, museums, and library breakfasts,” (About). While she notes the difference, Buchanan

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