The Corpse Had a Familiar Face: Covering Miami, America's Hottest Beat

By Edna Buchanan

Book Overview

For eighteen years, Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna Buchanan had one of the most exciting, frightening, and heartbreaking jobs a newspaperwoman could have -- working the police beat for the Miami Herald. Having covered more crimes than most cops, Buchanan garnered a reputation as a savvy, gritty writer with a unique point of view and inimitable style. Now, back in print after many years, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face is her classic collection of true stories, as witnessed and reported by Buchanan herself. From cold-blooded murder, to violence in the heat of passion, to the everyday insanity of the city streets, Edna Buchanan reveals it all in her own trademark blend of compassionate reporting, hard-nosed investigation, and wry humor that has made her a legend in the world of journalism.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425129942
• ISBN13: 9780425129944
• Release Date: February 1991
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 10 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

a must for all aspiring journalists!!!!

I read this book in college as part of the journalism curriculum. I was skeptical at first, thinking it would be boring like the other required reqdings for class, but to my surprise, it turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read! I even recommended it to a friend recently. All aspiring journalists will be even more motivated to get out into the field once they have read this book!

Fascinating!

This book is a gem. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. I even had to rush to the bookstore to pick up Never Let Them See You Cry. This woman has a refreshing tell-it-like-is tone. A truly wonderful book about one of America's most colorful cities.

Great Introduction to an Exciting City

If you really want to get a feeling for Miami, read this true crime book along with a standard tour guide. Edna Buchanan is as good as anybody in this genre; her love of the city, warts and all, shines through everyone of these gripping pages.

Hot, hot, hot

This was my second introduction to Edna Buchanan's great reporting skill and her method of explaining the journalism field in a way almost anyone could understand. As a journalist, I was already leaning toward police coverage, but Buchanan's books really made me hunger for more. I've always been fascinated about human evil and, as Buchanan puts it, how in humans, "the person most likely to kill you sits across the breakfast table from you." Domestic violence is such a killer, and too often ignored or seen as a small crime. But police officers, as Buchanan points out, often lose their lives the most at these calls. Excellent reporting and story-telling!