Edna Buchanan, “The Queen of Crime”
Edna Buchanan, also known as “the queen of crime”, is a true crime reporter and journalist for the Miami Herald. She dedicatedly worked alongside the Miami police for eighteen years, and according to her website, Buchanan has covered more than 5,000 deaths. Born in Paterson, New Jersey and now 80 years old, she won the Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting in 1986 and the Florida Humanities Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing in 2017. Not only has Buchanan written an impressive amount of articles, but she has also written about 20 fiction and nonfiction crime novels.
In my presentation, I will mention one of her most famous books, Contents Under Pressure. The fiction novel, which was reviewed by the New York Times in 1992, centers around a character named Britt Montero. She is a crime reporter for a well renowned newspaper in Miami, and she investigates homicides herself. Sounds familiar, right? From what I know about this book so far, it seems like it closely parallels aspects of Buchanan’s life experiences. This is something I will have to look into more. Another interesting thing to note is that this was her first go at writing fiction novels, as reported by the New York Times.
I was assigned Buchanan, but I am glad that I have the opportunity to learn more about her. Her line of work is something I am particularly interested in, as I consider learning about true crime to be one of my hobbies. Even though many times they are violent and horrific, there is something about investigating a crime that is intriguing and engrossing. The most interesting thing I have learned about Buchanan so far is her list of personal philosophies (located on her website) she acquired from life experiences dealing with crime. Some of these philosophies include: “The person most likely to murder you sits across the breakfast table”, “Never trust a man whose manicure is better than yours”, and “If kidnapped, ask your captors for fried chicken when they offer food”. I will be sure to mention this list during my presentation as well.
