death_date death_place children birth_place name birth_date spouse genre article_title birth_name occupation alma_mater
march 1 , 1971 august 15 , 1906 mamaroneck , new york hugh others rawson -lrb- 1936 -- 2013 -rrb- , 3 elyria , ohio clayton rawson august 15 , 1906 catherine stone january 2 , 1929 mystery clayton rawson
 clayton ashley rawson author ohio state university
clayton rawson

clayton rawson -lrb- 1906 -- 1971 -rrb- was an american mystery writer , editor , and amateur magician .
his four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective the great merlini , a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies .
he also wrote four short stories in 1940 about a stage magician named don diavolo , who appears as a principal character in one of the novels featuring the great merlini .
`` don diavolo is a magician who perfects his tricks in a greenwich village basement where he is frequently visited by the harried inspector church of homicide , either to arrest the don for an impossible crime or to ask him to solve it . ''
