Edna Buchanan

Edna Buchanan was heralded as the best police-beat reporter in the United States and one of the nation’s first female crime journalists, when she wrote for the Miami newspapers. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for general reporting. A high school graduate who worked wiring switchboards at a New Jersey Western Electric factory when she decided to take a creative writing course at night. She visited Miami on vacation, fell in love with the city, and immediately moved there. Buchanan soon landed a $45-a-week job as a society reporter at the Miami Beach Sun, and won local awards for her writing. She became a reporter for The Herald covering the crime scene in Miami where her tireless fact gathering has chronicled thousands of violent deaths over the three decades, creating compelling tales of killers, drug dealers, heroic police officers, and brave citizens. This legendary reporter earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for her vivid descriptions of one of the most frightening and fascinating cities on the Amer