Edward D. Radin

Edward David Radin was an American criminologist and journalist, described by Lillian de la Torre in the New York Times Book Review in 1961 as "the soundest crime expert of our generation."

Born in New York on 28 April 1909, Radin was the third child of two Russian Jewish immigrants.
Radin grew up in Brooklyn and Queens and graduated from New York University in 1932. He worked as a reporter for the Long Island Press, covering a broad range of subjects, from crime to education. He began freelancing articles on crime for detective magazines in 1936 and was able to give up newspaper work in 1941. His articles appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Coronet, the New York Times and many other journals. He edited Detective, a true-crime magazine, and wrote syndicated material for King Features Syndicate.

His first book, 12 Against the Law, was a study of twelve murder cases that he had covered as a journalist and earned Radin his first Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America for his crime writing in 1948; the follow-up, 12 Against Crime, won the award three years later. Radin was one of the founders of the MWA; he became treasurer in 1949 and was president in 1964.

Radin's best known book was Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story, a study of the famous murder case of 1892.

Some of Radin's work was adapted for television, including episodes of Suspense ("For the Love of Randi", about a nurse accused of murder) and Studio One ("Waterfront Boss", based on the exploits of John 'Cockeye' Dunn, executed in 1949).

Radin, who lived in Glen Cove, Nassau County, New York, died of cancer at the Community Hospital on 28 March 1966, aged 56.

from Bear Alley blogspot