Ed McBain (US writer and screenwriter) Add a review

Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino; October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of the 87th Precinct novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which are considered staples of the police procedural genre.

His other notable works include The Blackboard Jungle, a semi-autobiographical novel about life in a troubled inner-city school, which was adapted into a hit 1955 film of the same name. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds, based on the Daphne du Maurier short story.

Lombino published a handful of short stories under his birth name before adopting Evan Hunter in 1952 as both his legal name and the name he used for general fiction. He initially used Richard Marsten for genre fiction, but this fell by the wayside after the 87th Precinct series was launched under the name of Ed McBain. He also published one novel each as John Abbott, Curt Cannon and Ezra Hannon, and two novels as Hunt Collins. Most of the books he wrote as Marsten and under miscellaneous pseudonyms were later reissued as the work of Ed McBain.